The Federal Reserve has become a hot button issue for Tea Party groups, which have pushed back against the loose monetary policy of the central bank in the months following the 2008 financial crisis.

Rep. Ron Paul, who is seeking the the GOP nomination for president, has for years made reining in the Fed a part of his legislative agenda. Rep. Paul’s Audit the Fed bill, which was co-sponsored by more than 300 members of the House (including most of the Republicans in the Georgia delegation), would open up certain information to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that is currently excluded from audits in subsection (b) of 31 USC 714 (including transactions with foreign central banks, decisions on monetary policy, transactions made via the Federal Open Market Committee, and communications by members of the Fed’s Board of Governors.

Despite overwhelming support in the House and strong support in the Senate, only watered down language resembling Rep. Paul’s Audit the Fed legislation was included as an amendment to the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (known also as Frank-Dodd).

Rep. Paul and his son, Sen. Rand Paul, have both reintroduced stronger measures to bring transparency in actions taken by the Fed, so needless to say, this issue isn’t going away anytime soon.

With that said, it’s important that candidates for Congress in our state at least have a basic understanding of the Federal Reserve. Sadly, State Rep. Lee Anderson, a candidate in GA-12, has not found this issue worth looking into or, apparently, even comprehending.

During a recent candidate forum in Statesboro, Anderson was asked what he would like to do about the Fed; to which he replied, “We must build our reserves even stronger than what it is now…on the federal level.” He then said, obviously referring to revenues, that the legislature is “building back our reserves up now.” You can watch video of Anderson’s comments here (4:08-4:40), courtesy of the Statesboro Herald.

Seriously? Even if you aren’t supportive of Rep. Paul’s effort to audit the Fed, this sort of shallowness from a candidate running for Congress is worthy of a loud gasp.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that a candidate running for office needs to know the ins-and-outs of monetary policy or be schooled in Austrian economics, but it’s painfully clear that Anderson has no idea what the Federal Reserve is or what it does. And not only does he not know what the Federal Reserve is or does, he apparently thinks the federal government has “reserves” of money in the bank we just need to make “even stronger than what it is now”. Word confusion aside, does Rep. Lee Anderson not know that our federal government is running a deficit north of $15 trillion?

The good news is that Anderson won’t be in the Georgia General Assembly much longer. But voters in GA-12 need to ask themselves if they should send another one of those politicians to Washington.

The new Ninth District is in the midst of a GOP primary race that have four contenders going against each other: Rep. Doug Collins (R-Gainsville), conservative talk radio host Martha Zoller, Jackson County Commission Chairman Hunter Bicknell, and newly announced entrant Clifton McDuffie.

Here are a few numbers for you folks to mull around in your noggin from the Gainesville Times:

4th Quarter of 2011:

Rep. Doug Collins: $57,499 in contributions plus a $15,000 personal loan

Martha Zoller: $59,550 in contributions

Jackson County Commission Chairman Hunter Bicknell: $13,359

Clifton McDuffie has announced intentions on running for Congress, but hasn’t filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, so no numbers are available yet.

The more interesting thing to see is that Rep. Collins has more cash on hand than Ms. Zoller does: $114,268 vs. $19,368, respectively according to the FEC.  Chairman Bicknell had $6,499 on hand according to his report.

Based on the cash race, both Doug and Martha could be considered the front-runners in the race.  Take the numbers and make predictions as you wish.  The primary is July 31st.

We have noted in a couple places today where members of Georgia’s congressional delegation stand on piracy legislation currently in the Congress (SOPA in the House, PIPA in the Senate). I spent a few minutes going through members Facebook and Twitter feeds for statements on this issue, below is what I’ve been able to find.

- Sen. Saxby Chambliss: Opposes (previously supported, still listed as a co-sponsor of PIPA)
- Sen. Johnny Isakson: Supports (co-sponsor of PIPA)
- Rep. John Barrow: Supports (co-sponsor of SOPA)
- Rep. Sanford Bishop: ???
- Rep. Paul Broun: Opposes
- Rep. Phil Gingrey: Unclear
- Rep. Tom Graves: Opposes
- Rep. Hank Johnson: Opposes
- Rep. Jack Kingston: Opposes
- Rep. John Lewis: Opposes
- Rep. Tom Price: Unclear
- Rep. Austin Scott: Opposes
- Rep. David Scott: Opposes
- Rep. Lynn Westmoreland: Opposes
- Rep. Rob Woodall: Opposes

I’ll continue to update this as members put out statements, either on their websites or social media platforms. If you know of a position above to be incorrect, please let me know in the comments.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock or just don’t connect to the Interwebs (which…how would you be reading this if you didn’t?), many websites are going dark today protesting the House’s SOPA and the Senate’s PIPA bills aimed at fighting online piracy.  Jason mentioned it earlier today in his morning reads.  Rather than rehash how the two bills could harm free speech on the Internet, I’ll point you to the post I wrote back in December about SOPA, PIPA, and Intellectual Property.

Congressmen Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA-3), Austin Scott (R-GA-8), Tom Graves (R-GA-9),  and Paul Broun (R-GA-10) have spoken in opposition to the House’s SOPA bill.  Both Senators Saxby Chambliss (DC ph: 202-224-3521 District ph: 770-763-9090) and Johnny Isakson (DC ph: 202-224-3643 District ph: 770-661-0999) are co-sponsors of the Senate’s PIPA bill.

Please continue to urge our congressmen and senators to not grant the federal government censorship powers for the Internet.  And visit The Oatmeal for a (very humorous, but not safe for work or around the kids–you’ve been warned) take on how SOPA and PIPA would affect content online.

So, this happened:

Former Lamar County commission chairman Kent Kingsley announced tonight he will run for the 3rd District seat in the United States Congress as a Republican. He will square off with incumbent Rep. Lynn Westmoreland.

Anyone want to start a pool on how much of the vote Mr. Kingsley will receive?

This was passed along to me yesterday afternoon from Congressman Graves’ office:

U.S. Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA-9) announces the following changes to his district staff in Dalton, Georgia.  Travis Loudermilk joins the staff as District Representative.  Travis previously worked for Rep. Phil Gingrey.  He replaces Damon Walker, who is leaving the office to pursue new opportunities.

“While it is always hard to see good people move on, there is no doubt Damon will do well in whatever new endeavor he chooses.  Damon joined our team at a critical time in 2010.  We were in the middle of two elections and in the process of setting up two congressional offices in Georgia and one in Washington.  He wasted no time in implementing a field outreach program in all 15 counties of the district — and established relationships all across North Georgia that will be beneficial to my office for years to come.  About six months ago, Damon shared with us his desire to chart a new career course, and we support him in this decision.  Damon is a self-starter and has one of the most positive, upbeat attitudes of anyone that I know.  Julie and I certainly appreciate his service, and we both wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

“Stepping in to fill Damon’s position is Travis Loudermilk.  Travis joined our office late last year, after serving on the staff of Rep. Gingrey.  Travis will continue to provide the same great outreach throughout the northwestern part of the district and will be available for those who seek assistance from my office.  Adding Travis to the team compliments my ongoing effort to build the strongest, most responsive staff of any Member of Congress.”

I’ve known Damon for a few years now and have been honored to talk politics with him from time to time.  He’s a bright, hard working, and a great conservative.  He’s done well working as a member of Congressman Graves’ staff in Dalton.  I wish him much luck in his new endeavors.

Georgia’s Senator Johnny Isakson gives this week’s, and this year’s final, Republican address:

Full text of the address is after the jump, and you can get the MP3 version here.

“I’m United States Senator Johnny Isakson from the great state of Georgia. I hope that you and your family have had a very blessed holiday season. On this New Year’s Eve, I’d like to wish you a very happy and healthy 2012.

“As a businessman who ran a company in the private sector for 22 years, I always began each year by setting goals for myself and my company. I’d like to take a moment to set some goals, or in this case, ‘commitments,’ that we as Republicans make to the American people for 2012.

“It’s no secret that the number one issue facing our country is jobs. So the number one goal of the Republicans for 2012 is to continue to make it easier for American small businesses to create jobs.

“We’ll accomplish this by focusing on three things: fundamental tax reform, regulatory reform and energy security.

“In 2012, Republicans will continue to fight for much-needed tax reform for all American families and small businesses. It is critical if we want to see the economy grow in this country.

“We should lower tax rates, do away with certain specialized and targeted tax deductions, broaden the tax base and close loopholes. Many of these suggestions were included in President Obama’s own deficit commission’s proposal, the Simpson-Bowles plan. Unfortunately, the President chose to ignore that plan.

“Congress cannot wait any longer to get our nation’s fiscal house in order. This means tackling the nearly $4.5 trillion in additional debt that the Obama Administration has racked up in just the past three years.

“Democrats have pushed over and over again to raise taxes on the American families and small businesses to pay for their unsustainable spending habits. This is absolutely the wrong solution, especially in a time of a recession.

“Instead, we must dig our way out of this debt by reforming our tax system, cutting spending and extending opportunity for businesses to grow.

“In 2012, Republicans will continue to fight to remove the shackles of onerous federal regulations on American small businesses. This is one of the fastest ways we can empower small businesses to begin hiring again. It’s one of the keys to bringing our country out of this recession.

“The burdensome overregulation by President Obama’s federal agencies has resulted in small businesses holding capital on the sidelines and freezing plans to hire new workers. American business cannot plan ahead because they fear the next expensive regulation might be coming from the federal government.

“It is uncertainty that must end.

“The federal government cannot regulate our country into prosperity. Our job as legislators is to see to it that there is a level playing field for businesses, entrepreneurs and workers.

“Our job is not to eliminate risk. If you eliminate risk, you eliminate reward. If you eliminate risk and reward, you eliminate capitalism—the very foundation of our American economy.

“The third way that Republicans will make it easier to create jobs in the New Year is by continuing to push for energy solutions that create jobs, lower energy costs and remove our dependence on foreign oil.

“We can accomplish these goals by tapping into our domestic resources in an environmentally responsible way; such as through offshore drilling and shale extraction. We must develop all forms of energy—wind, solar, nuclear and others—if we’re ever going to lessen our dependence on foreign oil.

“This past year, Republicans pushed for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to transport 700,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada to the United States. This project would give America a reliable source of oil from our largest trading partner, and it would create tens of thousands of jobs for the American people. The Keystone pipeline is exactly the type of energy project this country needs.

“As we enter into this New Year, many have predicted that Congress will be too consumed with the Fall elections to accomplish anything significant.

“Americans cannot wait until after the November election. They need us to do our job and do it right now to create an economic climate that makes it easier to put people back to work. Republicans stand ready to do that.

“We’re ready to go to work in 2012 to get the American people back to work.

“God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America in this New Year.”

2011 is starting to wind down which means that the 2012 elections will begin to heat up.  I decided to peer into the proverbial crystal ball locked away in the Peach Pundit command center and see what sort of things I could prognosticate.  I hope you enjoy these…I might even revisit these at the end of next year to see how off-target I was.  Feel free to share your own predictions in the comments.

Nathan’s 2012 Predictions:

Georgia Politics:

• Senator Chip Rogers out as majority leader in the state senate.  Senate GOP caucus replaces Sen. Rogers with someone who would still be considered “anti-Cagle”, but would be willing to establish a peace with the Lieutenant Governor and granting some power back to Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.  Some order is back in the state senate, but still dysfunctional.
• With the state senate still in disarray, the state house becomes the more powerful chamber.
• The Georgia economy continues to lag in 2012, so paramutual betting and casinos get a more serious look from the legislature.  Governor Deal will still continue to publicly denounce the idea, but he might allow for a serious look through different channels behind the scenes.
• The Republicans are able to win a super-majority in the state house, but misses it in the state senate.
• Georgia’s Congressional Districts:

• Dispite a large backing of the Tea Party of Martha Zoller, Rep. Doug Collins becomes the new gentleman from Georgia’s Hall County-centered 9th Congressional District.
• Congressman John Barrow is defeated in the 12th district and Georgia becomes a 10-4 GOP Congressional delegation.

National Politics:

• Newt does something to falter and loses Iowa to Ron Paul.  Ron Paul makes a good showing in New Hampshire, but loses to Romney.  Romney takes South Carolina to build enough momentum to head into Super Tuesday.
• Rick Santorum does something shocking and wins a primary state…maybe even Florida.
• Santorum, Bachmann, Perry, and Huntsman drop out of race after Super Tuesday.
• “Romney is the inevitable” advocates are right.  Newt isn’t able to hold on to the momentum and voters are turned-off to Ron Paul due to differences in foreign policy.  Romney becomes GOP nominee and possibly picks Gov. Nikki Hailey or Gov. Bobby Jindal as his running-mate.
• Newt wins plurality in Georgia, Romney is 2nd, followed by Cain in 3rd place dispite his campaign “suspension”.
• Newt drops out of presidential run and endorses Romney.  He might even get a cabinent-level position in exchange of support.
• Republicans hold on to large majority in the US House.  Scott Brown loses senate race in MA, but Republicans will get a slight majority in the US Senate…around 52 or 53 seats.  Despite having a majority in both chambers, Democrats will still hold up legislation via filibuster.
• Republicans are able to defeat President Barack Obama to win back the White House, but only barely.

One last general prediction: World doesn’t end due to the lapse of the Mayan calendar.  The Snowpocalypse might get us, but the Mayans can’t take us down.

The tech community has been a-buzz about Congress’ legislation, “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) in the House and “PROTECT IP Act” (PIPA) in the Senate, to address online piracy and intellectual property rights.  I’m not an IP lawyer, or any sort of lawyer for that matter.  Constitutionally, one’s intellectual property is protected for a limited time so that it allows him to exploit his findings as well as encouraging people to make advances in the arts and sciences.

These two pieces of legislation are supposed to combat the problem of online piracy, but many tech and political pundits are starting to have questions about these pieces of legislation.  I’ll go ahead and establish that there really is a problem with online piracy.  Now, some out there are of the believe that online piracy isn’t as big of a deal as some make it out to be and that intellectual property (IP) owners should just come to grips with the fact that some of your property will be stolen no matter how hard you try to protect it.  That might be true, but that shouldn’t prevent an IP owner to protect his content.

The stripped down explanation of SOPA and PIPA is that it would allow IP owners/copyright holders to take legal action to shut down the avenues to get pirated content that is hosted overseas.  IP owners have legal recourse right now to get copyrighted content that is illegally hosted on servers in the United States via the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).  I’m not a big fan of the DMCA since it tends to lock down content to where the consumer can’t use it to the fullest extent, but SOPA would have greater ramifications.  SOPA/PIPA would affect how consumers get content (and possibly make it more costly and less accessible) and reminiscent of China’s Great Firewall.

Think back to the 2000′s…Napster (in its Peer-to-Peer file sharing form) played host to millions of users using it to share music.  One of the arguments was that the content providers a.) didn’t provide digital forms of the music like they wanted and b.) an album normally was priced around $15 to $20.  The RIAA started to crack down on illegal file sharers, but a movement began within the industry to start selling music online (enter iTunes Store).  Now, you have multiple vendors that either sell downloadable music to your mobile media device or sell a subscription that allows access to a vast music catalog.

Now that broadband is widespread, consumers are demanding to see videos online…for a reasonable price.  I believe that video content will go through the same evolution, albeit a bit more quickly, as music.  EBooks will probably suffer the same way with people sharing books purchased on the Kindle Store (of course, how is that any different than me allowing my friend to borrow the dead tree version of a book?).  People desire content that is easily accessible and affordable.  I’m not defending piracy, but it is a symptom of a problem that can be solved with free market economics…provide content that is easily accessible and affordable, and most reasonable, law-abiding citizens will pay for it.  I believe Netflix and Rhapsody are good examples of that.

So, that’s the consumer side…what about those of us that do provide content.  Believe it or not, Peach Pundit is a content provider.  Those of us here take what’s bouncing around in our minds about Georgia politics (or sometimes not), organize it into something fairly readable, and then release it to the Interwebs for your enjoyment.  Although we do synthesize a lot of the material in our punk’in heads, we do use various media outlets around the state (and sometimes country) to link to stories.  We give props to those folks by linking to and citing them as our source.  There might be a day in which we put something up here that someone doesn’t like and demands that we take it down because we don’t have their explicit permission to post it.  We might get in trouble for it…which means we would have to be *extraordinarily* careful to make sure we didn’t post something we weren’t supposed to lest we get fined or jailed for posting “illegal” content.  It could make it more difficult to be a blogger under the SOPA law.

Not to mention, how would search results on engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo be affected?  Would those search engines start to filter out search results to some blogs “just to be on the safe side” in order to avoid potential lawsuits from the RIAA and MPAA (the two largest backers of SOPA)?  The Internet is a trans-national entity.  It’s an entity that has allowed for people in oppressed regimes to have a free voice, so how can we as a country based on the idea of freedom allow for a law that would stymie both freedom of speech and the creation of new content?  Sure, there’s a problem with online piracy, but it would seem like this “remedy” would ultimately kill the patient.  Let’s not take the shotgun approach to treating the symptom of a headache.  We need to introduce a little bit of common sense into the way we handle our intellectual property.  Perhaps the OPEN Act will be a viable alternative that has a dose of that common sense.

Some further information about SOPA/PIPA:

this WEEK in TECH – Episode 332 – Bad News Bearers – TWiT.tv (good debate on SOPA)

Politico article on how SOPA could affect the blogosphere featuring Erick Erickson

A short synopsis of the OPEN Act by the Electronic Freedom Foundation

25 Things You Need To Know About SOPA – List25.com

Former Republican Congressman, Libertarian Presidential Candidate, and now an apparent convert back to the Republican Party Bob Barr is speculated to make a primary run against Congressman Tom Graves in the new 14th Congressional District.  I, along with many of my Republican cohorts, like both Graves and Barr, but I’m left scratching my head on why Barr is considering a run against one of the more popular conservative congressmen in Georgia?  What makes me more curious is why Barr is apparently repenting of his 5 year stint as a “big-L” Libertarian to convert back to the GOP in order to run for Congress.

In a 2007 Salon article, Bob Barr said that he has multiple reasons for leaving the Republican Party:

“One, that the Libertarian Party, among all of the parties out there, is the only one that is true to my core philosophy of working to minimize government power and maximize individual liberty. None of the other parties, and especially the Republican Party any longer, is at all committed to that philosophy.  And secondly, my great concern, manifested especially since 9/11, is the assaults on our fundamental civil liberties by this administration. [That's] personified, for example, in the disregard for the rule of law as exhibited by the warrantless NSA [National Security Agency] electronic surveillance in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. More recently, [there were] documented abuses at the FBI in carrying out certain of the expanded powers granted in the Patriot Act, namely, national security letters. And in January of this year, the testimony by the attorney general that this administration does not believe that the fundamental right to a writ of habeas corpus is an important, fundamental, constitutional guarantee. So what we have is a party, the Republican Party, to which I was very proud to belong for many, many years, no longer being committed to a core conservative philosophy. The Libertarian Party is so committed, and I felt that at the time that it was necessary to make a change because of the seriousness of the assaults on our civil liberties.

As much as I want to say that my party has totally learned its lesson from 5 years ago, I know that’s not a true statement.  I believe we’ve gotten better and have elected more conservative Republicans to Congress, but we’re not there yet.  If you haven’t noticed, there is some tension between the “good ole boys” in Congress and a few of those new bloods who are holding to principle within the Republican Conference.  Has the GOP’s core philosophy changed enough that Bob Barr now wants to accept us, or are there folks behind Barr positioning him to become Georgia’s version of Congressman and Presidential Aspirant Ron Paul?

Regardless, I welcome Bob Barr back to the Republican Party.  He has strong principles and has tremendous influence.  I believe he would be a great asset to our Party once again.

::UPDATE::

Yesterday, Jim Galloway posted a “warning” from the Club For Growth to Bob Barr advising him not to challenge Tom Graves in the 2012 General Primary.  It’ll be an interesting race if Barr does decide to jump in.  The Tea Party(ies) and various allied organizations may not jump to the side of the libertarian Republican Barr and continue to support the incumbent Graves instead.

We are now less than a year from the 2012 General Election.  Right now, the polls stand where there’s essentially a three-man race between Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich.  Never say never, but I have serious doubts on there being a President Bachmann, Santorum, Huntsman, or even Paul.  However, any one of those folks would be better than the current occupant of the White House, but my fellow Republicans shouldn’t get too cocky about winning in 2012.

In discussing the 2012 race with a co-worker a few months back, he noted that the Republicans basically had a lock on the White House because of President Obama’s unpopular policies.  The only problem with that thinking is, Republicans aren’t still exactly the most popular folks either.  Looking at the RealClearPolitics polling averages, a “generic” Republican beats the President, but when you replace “generic” with the candidates, the President runs away with the win in most cases.  Not to mention, the Generic Congressional Ballot gives Democrats the advantage (as of earlier this week).

Although it’s nice to see that the GOP has a slight advantage heading into 2012, “Generic” won’t be running for President any time soon.  In fact, I could bet that most folks see “Generic” as the cousin of “None of the Above”.  I hear that he won’t be running in 2012 either.

2010 was a banner year for Republicans.  Most were predicting similar results come 2012 especially with redistricting.  Unfortunately, it looks like Republicans won’t be benefiting too much from the decennial reapportionment process.  We might increase our majority a little bit in the House, but I don’t expect huge wins come Election Night 2012.  I expect the Senate to shake out around a slight Republican majority of about 53-47.

Let’s be real on two fronts.  First, this is November 2011.  Most folks aren’t even thinking about Christmas 2011 let alone Election 2012.  Things could start to shake out better towards the Republican side and we could still see the potential for large wins.  Second, let’s keep reality in sight as we talk about 2012.  I’m optimistic about 2012, and I plan on working hard for the eventual Republican candidate, but let’s be realistic in our expectations.  We’re facing an incumbent presidential candidate who is still able to raise a pantload of money, who is still popular among the younger people, and who has a political campaign machine behind him.  Just remember, it’s still hard to beat an incumbent…even if he does have less than 50% in public opinion polls.

It’s not fun throwing a bucket of cold water on the face of your party, but I believe it’s something that Republicans should keep in mind.  We, as Republicans, have a lot of work to do in 2012.

And waits. And waits.

From the Ledger-Enquirer:

The Columbus area is poised to gain hundreds of civilian defense jobs from a $458 million contract that has been awarded to a pool of companies eager to do business at the Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning.

But the military and the contracting firms find themselves waiting and watching as the federal budget drama unfolds in Washington. A so-called congressional “super committee” is looking for ways to slash $1.2 trillion in spending, an effort likely to cause considerable financial pain for the Department of Defense.

“The super committee, I understand they have free rein. They can cut whatever they want to cut,” said Mike Burns, business developer and program manager for the Northrop Grumman Technical Services office in Columbus. “I think we’ll be safe because this isn’t for fluff. This is basic needs to train soldiers. So I think we’ll be good.”

[...] If the super committee — officially known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction and made up of six Democrats and six Republicans — can’t hammer out an agreement before the end of this year, the Defense Department will face an additional $600 billion in cuts. That will bring the total to more than $1 trillion over a decade and severely harm the military’s long-term readiness, critics have said.

The super-committee has until November 23 to present their budget reductions. Voting must occur before December 23.

In the meantime, Columbus continues to fight for its good name. There’s nothing better than a good dose of tension to make everyone’s holidays full of cheer.

Doug Collins and Martha Zoller will both appear at a debate in Blairsville sponsored by the Conservative Business Alliance:

Conservative Business Alliance hosts Congressional Candidate Debate

The Conservative Business Alliance (CBA) announces a debate of declared candidates for the new Congressional seat in the 9th District. This first debate will take place on Monday, November 7, 2011 at 7 PM at the Civic Center in Blairsville and all concerned citizens are urged to attend.

At this time the declared candidates are State Representative Doug Collins and talk show host Martha Zoller who are both Republicans. Any other Republican candidates that formally announce before October 31 will be invited to participate. At this time there are no announced Democrat candidates but the CBA will schedule another debate should multiple Democrat candidates emerge in the future.

Representative Doug Collins has served District 27 in the Georgia State House for three terms and was appointed the Governor’s Floor Leader during this past legislative session. He serves on the powerful Appropriations Committee, is the Vice Chair of the Defense and Veteran Affairs Committee and serves on Health and Human Services, Judiciary Non-Civil and Public Safety and Homeland Security Committees.

Martha Zoller hosts a daily talk radio show on WXKT FM 103.7 from 7 to 10 am EST and is syndicated across Georgia. A contributor to Human Events Online, Pajamas Media, Jewish World Review and various other publications. Martha’s first book, Indivisible: Uniting Values in a Divided America was released in November 2005.

Former Republican Congressman and (Big L) Libertarian Presidential candidate in 2008 is considering making a return to the Republican Party and trying to make a return back to the US House of Representatives.  Jim Galloway cites the Daily Caller as confirming Barr’s consideration to become the gentleman from the 14th district:

It was good information, but we could never track Barr himself down to confirm the report. However, Steven Nelson at the Daily Caller in Washington just did:

Barr [said] “some supporters are encouraging me” to run for Congress in 2012. He noted that because of redistricting, “much of the new 14th District was part of my old 7th District.”

Barr, who lost his congressional seat in 2002, is a Cobb County resident. The 14th District drifts from far north Georgia down to next-door Paulding County.

Barr told the DC that no decision had been made yet.

Well, we’ve been told that polls are running the the new 14th district by supporters of Bob Barr.  The telephone polls are conducted by live agents and apparently the choices in the poll are Bob Barr, Jerry Shearin (Paulding County Commish Chairman), and current 9th District Congressman Tom Graves.  Regrettably, they apparently have left out Walker County’s Steve Tarvin of Chickamauga, who is also making a primary run against Congressman Graves, from the poll’s choices.  I haven’t heard about the polls in my area of the 14th, but it’s possible they could be running them mainly in Paulding County to gauge support in the largest county of the new district.

Let the rumor mill get ramped up.

Senator Johnny Isakson praised the US Senate on the passage of free trade agreements with Columbia, South Korea, and Panama:

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who serves on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, today praised the Senate passage of three free trade agreements, which are projected to create tens of thousands of American jobs without adding to the national debt.

The three free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia passed the Senate on Wednesday evening by votes of 83 to 15, 77 to 22 and 66 to 33, respectively, with Isakson voting in favor of all three. The House also approved the three trade deals on Wednesday evening.

“These three free trade agreements are good examples of solutions that will boost the economy and put Americans back to work without adding to our enormous national debt,” said Isakson. “These trade agreements will increase U.S. exports of goods and services by $13 billion annually and will positively impact Georgia agriculture, which is vital to the state’s economy.”

Isakson has long-called on President Obama to submit the free trade agreements to Congress, which a president is required to do before the House and Senate can vote on them.  President Obama waited until last week to submit these free trade agreements to Congress for approval even though they have been ready to send to Congress for three years.

According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the agreements will increase U.S. exports by $13 billion annually, supporting tens of thousands of American jobs.

Discuss your opinions on free trade agreements in the comments section.

Congrats to our junior US Senator for being named a “Taxpayer Hero”.  Keep up the good work for us in Washington:

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today was honored as a “Taxpayer Hero” by the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste for his voting record for 2010, the second session of the 111th Congress. The award is given to members of Congress who demonstrate a commitment to increasing transparency, minimizing waste, permanently eliminating earmarks, and reducing the ever-growing national debt.

“I am honored to receive this distinction from the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste because my top priorities in the Senate include reining in government spending and reducing the debt,” said Isakson. “With a national debt skyrocketing past $14 trillion, it is imperative that we get our country’s fiscal house in order. One of the most important steps Congress can take to resolve this fiscal crisis is to make the commitment to cutting government waste.”

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement in government.

For its 2010 Congressional Ratings, the group examined 62 key roll call votes in the Senate to separate the taxpayer advocates in Congress from those who favor wasteful programs and pork-barrel spending. Isakson received a score of 96 percent to earn the “Taxpayer Hero” honor.

Isakson has a longstanding record of demonstrating fiscal responsibility. In his congressional office, for example, he has returned more than $3 million of his annual budget to the Treasury over the years as a former member of the House and as a current member of the Senate.

This year, Isakson joined Senator Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., in introducing legislation in the Senate, S.211, to convert congress to a biennial budgeting system in order to increase oversight and efficiency in the appropriations process, which has recently gained traction in the Senate Budget Committee. The Senators have also urged the deficit-fighting super committee to consider adding biennial budgeting to its upcoming package of proposed reforms.

The US Senate Budget Committee’s Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL) have indicated support for the idea to move the congressional budgeting process from annual to biennial that is similar to a bill co-sponsored by Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson:

Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL) indicated at a hearing on Tuesday of their committee that they were prepared to support a transition to biennial budgeting, similar to the proposal from Senators Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) in their Biennial Budget Appropriations Act, S.211.

“Chairman Conrad and Ranking Member Sessions’ support is a critical step forward for biennial budgeting,” Shaheen said. “Nobody understands better than they the challenges of producing an annual budget and the value in a more thoughtful approach that allows for greater accountability and oversight. I appreciate their willingness to examine this proposal fully and lend their support.”

“I am very pleased that Chairman Conrad and Ranking Member Sessions have signaled their support for fixing our broken-down budgeting process through implementing a biennial budget,” said Isakson. “I have advocated this change every year since arriving in the Senate because it will provide much-needed oversight in the appropriations process and shift the paradigm in Washington to focus on how much Congress can save rather than on how much Congress can spend.”

Isakson and Shaheen introduced S. 211 earlier this year. It would switch Congress from an annual spending process to a biennial, two-year cycle, dedicating one year to passing spending bills and the other year to scrutinizing federal programs. Since 1980, Congress has only twice completed the entire appropriations process before October 1.

Received via email:

Atlanta, GA – House Majority Leader Eric Cantor will join Georgia’s House Republican delegation to speak in support of passing a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution Tuesday at the Georgia Republican Party Headquarters. The event comes in advance of a requirement that both the House and Senate vote on the amendment by year’s end.

WHO: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA/1)
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA/3)
Rep. Tom Price, MD (R-GA/6)
Rep. Rob Woodall (R-GA/7)
Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA/8)
Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA/9)
Rep. Paul Broun, MD (R-GA/10)
Rep. Phil Gingrey, MD (R-GA/11)

WHAT: Press Conference in Support of Balanced Budget Amendment

WHEN: TODAY, Tuesday, September 27 at 4:15 p.m.

WHERE: Georgia Republican Party Headquarters; 3110 Maple Drive; Atlanta, GA

Mac Collins, who finished third in Republican primary for Senate in 2004 and lost to Jim Marshall in 2006, is considering yet another run for Congress; this time challenging Paul Broun. Blake Aued has the story:

Mac Collins said there is a better-than-even chance he’ll run against Broun in a radically redrawn 10th District. He said he expects to make a final decision by the end of October.

Collins said he’s more experienced than Broun, who’s served four years to his 12. “I’ve been there at these tough times like we’re having today,” he said.

These two have a history. They both ran for the same congressional seat in 1992, when Broun lived in Americus. Back then, though, Collins was the establishment candidate and Broun was an unknown upstart.
[...]
When Republican state lawmakers approved new district lines last month, they lopped off the northern half of Broun’s district to create a new one centered around Gainesville and added parts of Middle Georgia and metro Atlanta, including Collins’ home in Butts County. About half the district will be new to Broun, and Collins once represented parts of it.

Gov. Nathal Deal, who served in the House with Collins, pledged his support for Broun last week.

Before your finalize next week’s schedule, be sure to add this to your calendar: The “Save America’s Postal Service” rally on Tuesday September 27 from 4:00 – 5:30 PM at the Gwinnett County Justice Center at 75 Langley Drive.

The postal workers are rallying in support of the U.S. Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act, also known as H.R. 1351.

Recent reports have said USPS will likely miss a $5.5 billion payment to it’s retiree’s health care fund due on September 30th. USPS also faces a $10 billion deficit for the fiscal year and is likely to run out of cash this winter.

The Postal Service has been losing billions for years and has sought relief from pension fund payments in the past.

Is it time to privatize the Postal Service? I agree with Doug Mataconis:

The solution here seems rather obvious. The Postal Service should be set free of its ties to the Federal Government and forced to compete with other companies. It is fundamentally absurd that they should need to go to Congress to get permission to do something like eliminating Saturday delivery. A private company doesn’t need to get permission to engage in a cost-cutting move like that, and USPS would clearly, in the long run, be a much healthier company if it had the freedom to make these kinds of decisions with(sp) the heavy hand of Congress interfering (there’s already been talk about Congress stepping to prevent the Post Office closures that were recently announced). Postal privatization has been done in other countries, quite successfully, and I don’t see any reason why it can’t happen here.