Morgan County GA Democrats

By Marty Fierman
December 28, 2006

Next fall, four year olds will enter the Pre-K program to begin fourteen years of public education. Their performance in the first three or four years will determine their academic success or failure.

Failure at the high school level is obvious and easily measured. Drop rates and state–mandated graduation scores are but two criteria. Measurements such as these confirm failure at a time when it is too late to change the outcome.

In middle school the children who have fallen behind are easily identified, but for many the opportunity for academic success has already been lost. If a child in the sixth grade is functioning in math or English at a third-grade level, rarely does that child catch up.

In education, “foundation” is everything. The unsuccessful performance of the child in the lower grades generally undermines the efforts of educators in later years.

“As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.”

The world has become a very competitive place. The basic skills once commonly obtained though a 12-year curriculum are no longer adequate.

In Morgan County, WHERE ARE WE TODAY? Our teachers are paid well by Georgia standards and 53% have advanced degrees. We have a student/faculty ratio of 13/1. According to the State Department of Education, 75% of our students achieve “adequate yearly progress” (AYP). 71% of the students who enter high school graduate which is better than the state average. Is this good enough? 25% fail to meet AYP. 29% fail to graduate. Georgia consistently ranks in the bottom 10% nationwide. Is this the standard we wish to pursue? Are we to tell our children that this is all we want for them?

The State Department of Education has a minimum staffing and curriculum model. If we adopt that standard, our children will have to accept a place in that bottom Ten Percent (10%).

We must create our own model designed to provide an educational opportunity which rivals the states in the top 10%. HOW? We employ math and English specialists in the primary and elementary schools to support and supplement the work of the classroom teachers. We fund summer sessions to enable weaker students to catch up and keep up. We design a curriculum that will make our students attractive to, and competitive in, any college in the country.
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By Patsy Harris
December 21, 2006

If one requires a reason not to kill a human being in state custody one might look at the botched killing in Florida last week. The execution by lethal injection took 30 minutes instead of the “humane” 15 minutes. I imagine the onlookers became a little uncomfortable around the 20-minute mark. How about the prisoner’s family?

There is a good chance that many of the prisoner’s family members, before he specifically was accused of a capital crime, were proponents of the death penalty, just as are many residents of Morgan Co. who have yet to have a family member on death row.

Would those local proponents be able to sit back quietly as a prisoner is executed if the prisoner were a nephew or a grandson? Certainly even the proponents have drawn lines somewhere along their genealogical trees across which the death penalty is not allowed - a line below which the death penalty is too horrific, and shall we say, unnecessary.

Surely even the staunchest advocate of the death penalty would fight for life in prison for a nephew or grandson. All it will take for that nephew or grandson to be hustled off to death row is for a drug buy, or a robbery to obtain the money for that drug buy, to go awry. Many folks in Morgan County have family members for which that is not too hard to envision.

Suddenly 15 minutes is too long for the execution process. Just maybe life in prison for a grandson or nephew or 2nd cousin or neighbor or stranger is better.
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By Patsy Harris
December 14, 2006

Think local first when buying gifts during the rest of this holiday season and a personal habit could form that would benefit Morgan County forever. A strong economy in my neighborhood is important to me, so I plan on developing and nurturing my own “think local first” habit.

Shopping locally - spending your dollars in the county – and not just during a holiday season, has a direct impact on the local economy. Your dollars spent locally pay the wages of your neighbors; provide business owners the opportunity to hire local accountants, plumbers, and lawn maintenance workers. And your dollars pay the local sales tax that filters down to the city and county governments, schools, and special projects.

There is nothing more gratifying than seeing businesses spring up and thrive in our neighborhoods and handing dollars to and chatting face-to-face with Aunt Oma in Buckhead, Joe Houston in Madison, and Molly Lesnikowski in Rutledge. As the dollars and goods and words are swapped, bonds are strengthened far beyond those of finance and economy.

For the next ten days I am going to cultivate that “think local first” habit and buy all but one of my Christmas gifts locally. I have already warned Ann Huff at Madison City Hall that I plan to buy a lot of downtown dollars to give away as gifts. Not only will those all be spent in Madison, but it will also encourage certain relatives to visit me here.

And I just might buy a buttermilk pie at the Oh Taste & See Restaurant in Bostwick to take to my brother’s house on Christmas Day.
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By Ted Arnold
December 7, 2006

It is more evident each day that the area surrounding metropolitan Atlanta is still one of the fastest growing areas in the country. I am proud that the good folks in Morgan County had the foresight to adopt thorough and careful zoning regulations to allow us to maintain the mix of small town charm and the best of country living. So far, few exceptions have been made to our zoning standards. Our planners, commissioners and managers have done an excellent job.

The key to it all will be for the public to know about new developments and businesses who want to come to our county. This newspaper has done a fine job of keeping us informed.

How many times have we said to ourselves that we don't want Morgan County to be another Gwinnett... or Rockdale? Careful zoning regulations can prevent it. So far, so good.

Have you noticed what our neighbors on the other side of Atlanta have done? The residents of Paulding County voted to buy a huge tract of land for use as a park. They will buy over 7,000 acres, roughly 11 square miles! It will cost every citizen about $25 a year to acquire the land, but the folks in Paulding County approved the bond issue by a 2 to 1 margin. Plans are to keep the park in mostly undeveloped green space with hunting and fishing allowed at certain times; camping, picnicking and hikes in the woods will be available year round. I applaud the foresight of Paulding County. I hope they have as careful zoning regulations as we do in Morgan County.

Morgan County already has a terrific park at Hard Labor Creek. Someone had the foresight a very long time ago to create the place. Rural land in Morgan County is selling for as much as $14,000 per acre and there aren't many tracts of land big enough for a park. We are so lucky we already have one.

Often times, government can do things for all of us that industry can't... or won't. The folks in Paulding County are a good example. And so are we in Morgan County.
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By Patsy Harris
November 22, 2006

Dudney and I just completed a nine-day journey across North Carolina visiting sisters, brothers, cousins, nephews, nieces, in-laws, uncles and aunts. It was a great reminder of the many family members, near and far, for which we are thankful.

For me, it was a let’s get outta here, refresh, and begin anew trip following the many energized and exciting weeks of the State Senate campaign, a campaign which left us Democrats stronger and wiser and more bonded than ever. For that I am thankful too - and oh, so hopeful, especially on the national front.

While we prove ourselves nationally, locally we Democrats will not sit back on our thankfulness and bask in those good feelings. We are already re-energized with new ideas, new members, new goals, new plans.

We welcome the many views and rational debate which will lead to collective decisions and move us forward as a group. Visit our website and see the many columns published since March here in The Citizen, upcoming events, and past newsletters. Join our email list for local, state and national news.

We Democrats are so thankful to be back and welcome you to join us for the journey.
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By Patsy Harris
November 2, 2006

My husband and I live with each other on opposite sides of the political tracks. We battle for the TV remote for control of CNN and FOX, finding common ground on Discovery Health Channel.

Over our 25 years together, we have wordlessly agreed to keep most political thoughts to ourselves. But, sometimes a comment will slip from his mouth, and I marvel at our difference - the different way in which we view the world.

We can both look at the same problem and each see something totally different going on, and each have a different solution, and each feel equally as passionate.

If we read a story about a jobless, single mother of three, he say she made some bad choices. He says the Constitution does not say this is the government’s responsibility, that society says it’s the government’s responsibility. His first choice in assisting this mother would be on the local level - churches, local donors, not dollars that folks are forced to pay via taxes.

And I say this mother and her three children are part of a country-wide, societal problem that must be dealt with on a country-wide, societal level. That means everyone joining in on the solution. Yes, that means government taking the initiative to assess, plan and implement from Washington to Rutledge and Milledgeville, to Chicago and Miami, where local folks adapt it to their own communities.

The way we view the world - is it brain chemistry? Is it innate? Is it the years we were born? Is it our birth places?

Whatever the cause, it made him Republican and me Democrat.
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By Ruth Bracewell
October 26, 2006

Last year a bill was passed by the Georgia legislature which could have far-reaching effects on many of us. Under the guise of helping folks who work in small businesses, our legislators altered long-standing regulations about which insurance benefits must be made available for Georgia citizens.

Until 2005, the state of Georgia mandated that companies which sell accident and sickness insurance policies in Georgia were required to provide a minimum list of health benefits. After this new law was passed, companies could eliminate coverage for certain services, including mammo-grams, mastectomies, autism treatment, prescription inhalers, and child wellness exams.

Of course, these policies would be required to contain a disclaimer in bold print, which gives a warning that “the policy does not provide all of the state mandated health benefits normally required in accident and sickness insurance policies in Georgia”.

My question concerns the supposedly state mandated health benefits. If they are mandated by law, then how can they be “un-mandated”? In other words, how can a company present two policies – one which contains state mandated health benefits and an alternative plan which doesn’t cover the state mandated health benefits. Either our state requires coverage for mammograms, autism, etc. or it doesn’t.

Women who are at risk of breast cancer shouldn’t have to worry about insurance coverage for mammograms, much less for mastectomies which follow breast cancer surgery. Parents of children with autism shouldn’t have to worry about insurance
coverage to help them cope with this devastating illness. Asthma and emphysema patients shouldn’t have to worry about insurance coverage for life-saving prescription inhalers.

Our senator Johnny Grant voted for this legislation. I don’t believe he was looking out for our best interests. I’m going to vote for someone who will protect our lives and our health benefits.
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By Pat Stokes
October 19, 2006

Politics can be a mean and ugly business. All you have to do is watch the television during election season or read the newspapers. It is no wonder that good, caring people have become reluctant to run for office. Candidates open themselves to bitter, biting, sometimes untrue or exaggerated criticism or charges.

Somehow over the years voters in this country have shifted their focus from thoughtful consideration of the issues at hand and knowledge of the candidates running (especially at the local level) to a focus on blind allegiance to a political party. Neither major party is perfect; both have good people running for office, and both have had a few people slip through the election process to turn out to be not as good as hoped.

Long ago in the far, far away when I was a child, I remember my grandfather refusing to answer my question about the party he supported in the upcoming Presidential election. He answered that he always found out as much as he could about who was running for office and voted for the man, not for a party. He went on to tell me what a great general Eisenhower had been, so I knew how he intended to vote, but in the “solid south” of the fifties, he would never have admitted it.

I like his approach, however. I especially like it when it applies to local politics. I want to get to know the candidates for office, if I don’t already, and I want to make my decision based on past performance, degree of wisdom and poise under pressure, and - most of all - the sincere commitment to community over any vestige of personal gain or exposure. I’m not interested in those who vie for power and control; I’m interested in those who truly have the heart of a servant, and I have voted both ways in the past to fill that need.

Please take the time to think it through for yourself and try to use the criteria I outlined this time instead of voting a straight party line. Who knows? Our county and our state might be better off because you did.
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By Patsy Aldridge
October 12, 2006

I am writing this article from a very personal perspective. Within the last month it has become necessary for me to find a nursing home to take care of my husband’s health needs. He and I have been very lucky to find good care locally, both in a nursing home, by a family physician, and at Morgan Memorial Hospital. Without doubt, we are very lucky people - lucky to be citizens in a country which has excellent medical facilities, wonderful doctors and nurses, and medical research which is the envy of the whole world.

However, no one who has recently paid for medical service or medicine needs to be reminded that our excellent care is expensive. My husband and I are two of the lucky ones because we have good medical insurance. What about those in our society who do not?

Within the last month I read an article in the Atlanta Journal & Constitution stating that 20% of all children in Georgia are not covered by any kind of health insurance. What happens to them when they are sick? Who pays those large and unavoidable medical bills? Health care has been a topic of debate for years. We usually end up hearing good, reasonable arguments for why things cost so much. But no amount of understanding actually pays the bills.

Americans have long believed in private enterprise and individual initiative. That is fine and good, but what happens if we don’t provide for all of society’s members?

Democrats know that it actually pays us to promote programs for prenatal health, to ensure adequate nutrition for our youngest citizens, and to control childhood obesity through proper food and adequate exercise. Unhealthy babies grow up to be unhealthy adults and unhealthy elderly people. Ultimately, we all the price for that.

I, for one, am particularly pained when I think about a young child or an elderly person at the end of life suffering for lack of care. So I will support Democrats in the General Election in November - Democrats who believe very strongly that our society has obligations to our fellow human beings.
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By Ted Arnold
October 5, 2006

Until the last few years, it was the traditional practice to redefine voter district lines every 10 years to adjust for population growth and to balance districts evenly. Why 10 years? That is when we take a census, and new information is known about where voters live. This practice has been in place since the late 1800s, and it makes common sense.

However, in recent years, moves were made to redefine districts at ANY time to construct "safe" districts and insure a tighter grip on Congress by the party in power.

The Georgia Legislature did the same thing. Our neighbors in Athens-Clarke County had their representation split into two new districts to dilute the voting power of that strong community.

By using this new scheme of redistricting at any time, districts can be changed more and more often. Folks with common sense in any political party see it as needless confusion and a waste of money and time.

State Senate candidate Bruce Gilbert believes an independent and impartial commission should be in charge of redrawing voter district lines every 10 years.

There are many reasons that Bruce should be elected to the State Senate. This common sense approach to voter representation is only one of them.
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By Patsy Harris
September 28, 2006

It's time to vote in Georgia - for governor, secretary of state, state senators and reps, SPLOST, and a host of others. Now.

If you are ready to vote, you can now do so in two ways.

The first is for those whose only excuse to vote early is that they just want to get it done. This process involves a paper absentee ballot.

To receive a ballot, just call, drop by, fax, or write a request for a ballot application from the Morgan County Registrar on or before Nov. 3. If you are physically disabled or living temporarily away from Morgan County, a close relative can fill out the ballot application for you.

If you fill out or drop off the ballot application in person you will vote with a paper ballot right then and there. Once you have marked the ballot, either at home or at the registrar's office, follow the instructions carefully. Any mistake can cause your ballot to be voided.

There are two ways to send the ballot back to the registrar's office. Mail or personally hand deliver it to the Morgan County Registrar no later than 7 PM on Election Day.

Another way to cast a ballot now is to vote by touch screen machine in person in the registrar's office. To do that, though, you need an excuse. The Georgia Secretary of State lists the following excuses that will allow you to vote in person today:
· You will be absent from your precinct from 7 AM - 7 PM on election day.
· You are 75 years of age or older.
· You have a physical disability which prevents you from voting in person or you are a constant caregiver of a person with a disability.
· You are an election official.
· You are observing a religious holiday which prevents you from voting in person.
· You are required to remain on duty in your precinct for the protection of life, health, or safety of the public.

Beginning Monday, Oct. 30, the registrar's office will be open for touch screen voting for anyone, no excuse needed, all that week.

For those who need to register to vote on Election Day, you have until Oct. 10.

Morgan County Registrar - address: 355 Hancock St., Madison, GA 30650; hours: 8 AM – 5 PM; phone: (706) 343-6311; fax: (706) 343-6465.
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By Mary McGill
September 21, 2006

A few months ago, someone I respect very much asked me what the Democratic Party means to me. I fumbled something about hope and no viable third party. But really, overa1l, the Democratic Party just seems to be better at helping the most people lead good and productive lives.

I know there are people who can talk rings around me as to why the Democrats are good or bad, and who can put together lists of its successes and failures. But it is my studied opinion that Americans fare better when Democrats are in charge. Their process of inclusion brings about a superior chemistry as far as governing and the creation of policies go. When the desired result is for government to expand the freedoms of its citizens and to secure the national defense, it seems axiomatic that the more people involved in the process, the better.

When I think of all the issues facing us in the next months and years, the task to put things right is daunting - so many lives wasted, so much money spent, and an administration that seems to be unable to move forward out of its current morass. Our government is out of balance. The checks and balances, so carefully created by our founders, are being circumvented by one political party. That party calls dissent un-American. Our country was founded by dissenters who wanted better lives for ordinary people. In the end, the lesson of fear does not serve us well, and yet that seems to be what our President is telling us - be afraid - fear people who don't look like us, think like us, or speak our language. But in the end, xenophobia will not secure our borders or protect our airplanes.

This November we have the opportunity to begin restoring balance to our government, both local and national. We have a real chance to let more voices into the debate and find new solutions.

So when I answered my friend, maybe I wasn't too far off. The Democratic Party is about hope.

At least for me it is.
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By Marty Fierman
September 14, 2006

Without question Morgan County needs a new jail. The current jail is no longer large enough for our present needs and is not adaptable to meet contemporary legal standards.

The problem is clearly defined – but, what is the solution?

First, we must understand the function of the jail. The vast majority of people who are brought to the jail have not been convicted of any crime. The jail is primarily a processing center for people charged with minor or non-violent offenses and who will be released within hours. These individuals, if later found guilty, will ultimately be punished by fines and probation.

Persons convicted of an offense and sentenced to more than one year may remain in the jail for a couple of days before being moved to State prisons. Only those convicted of misdemeanors and sentenced to “time” for less than one year stay at the county jail. The sentence for escape may result in five years imprisonment, so most inmates would not leave the jail even if you left the doors wide open.

There are juveniles who are held temporarily in the jail awaiting removal to the Youth Detention Center.

Occasionally, there are persons who have committed violent crimes and who must be detained under close supervision and tight security.

For the average of six to 10 violent offenders who are housed at the jail at any given time, we don’t need a 150-bed SUPER-MAX facility. A county jail doesn’t have to be built to the specifications of a Federal penitentiary.

Detention facility construction is absolutely the most expensive type of construction.

Jails are built upon the recommendation of architects and contractors who have no incentive to build less than the most expensive designs. The recommendation which has been provided to Morgan County will cost $22.5 million without including the value of land.

The issue of operating costs for a larger, more complex jail is not yet addressed. How many more staff would such a jail require?

The Federal Government now builds MINIMUM security facilities for persons serving short sentences – no bars, no fences, and comparatively smaller staffing requirements. These “camps” are a lot like college dormitories or military barracks and reduce construction and operating costs by millions of dollars.

Let us not fall in the “one-size-fits-all” trap.

Isn’t it time to think outside the box? Let us build a jail to serve the needs of our community and save a few million dollars in the process.
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By Ted Arnold
September 7, 2006

What is Iraq costing us? Many thousands of lives, billions of dollars, influence and image.

In American lives, it has cost us nearly 3,000 soldiers, not to mention, of course, the many thousands who have come home with irreparably shattered bodies. Almost 50,000 Iraqis have died, many children and innocent bystanders included.

A national web site says we have spent over $310 billion so far in Iraq. Every citizen of Georgia has spent over $900 each. For the citizens of Iraq we have spent almost $12,000 each. We could buy every Iraqi a good used car for what we've already spent in this unjustified war.

How much have we spent helping our fellow citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi?

Iraq has cost America its influence and image around the world. Our miserable conduct in the war has us no closer to an exit from Iraq than we had three years ago. All the reasons that Bush originally used to provoke the war have proven wrong. There were no WMDs, no Iraqi oil to pay for the war, no Al Qaeda connection to our invasion, and no reliable government has been established to move the Iraqi people to peace.

What we have is a civil war in Iraq. Only last week over 250 people died there.

None of the present administration will admit to the mistakes they've made. All we get from Republicans is talk of fear and the largest debt in the history of the planet.
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By Patsy Harris
August 31, 2006

It is called the one-cent sales tax, the one-cent solution - the voters’ decision to tax themselves to fund projects that benefit the entire county. It is SPLOST- since 1985 - Georgia’s Special Project Local Option Sales Tax.

Last Friday Morgan County Commissioners resolved to place a SPLOST referendum on the November 7 ballot. The resolution includes a list of projects, or package, which would be approved or rejected by county voters.

If approved, the county sales tax would increase by one cent, and it is estimated that all of those pennies collect-ed over several years will total between $20 million and $30 million. Each project listed on the referendum would receive its share.

Before election day, November 7, we will hear a lot about SPLOST, why we should vote YES, why we should vote NO. When we arrive at the voting machine, we cannot pick and choose among the projects, we must approve the entire list for the tax to go into effect.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Morgan County Library, I send our deep appreciation to the Commissioners for dedicating one piece of the SPLOST pie to the library. The $900,000 the library will receive from SPLOST, if the voters pass the referendum, will bring in another nearly $2 million from the State of Georgia to renovate the current building and expand it by 3,000 square feet. There is no better way to benefit the children, adults, and visitors in a community than to have a library that grows with it.

And while SPLOST is a tax, we can all agree that it would be a fair tax - imposed by local folks and used by local folks - the most basic units of our democracy.
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By Emmie Smock
August 24, 2006

Last December the New York Times reported, and last week a Federal judge concluded, that President Bush had violated the Constitution and broken the law passed by Congress to protect Americans against abuses by what some have characterized as a “super-secret spy agency.” In 2002 he signed a presidential order allowing the National Security Agency (NSA) to monitor without a warrant both international and domestic phone calls and emails of certainly hundreds, and probably thousands, of U. S. citizens and legal residents inside the US.

As 2006 dawned, we knew that Big Brother could spy on any one of us without any independent review or judicial oversight. Bottom line: the kind of spying President Bush authorized was illegal. Of course he maintained, and still does, that he simply had the authority to do so because of 9/11. Just like that his NSA seemed to become the “super-secret spy agency” that this country has feared since The National Security Act of 1947, which was passed specifi-cally to ban such intelligence agencies from operating inside our country.

Remember the Nixon 70s when we learned about all that domestic, political spying that the FBI, military, CIA, and NSA were doing? Remember that one of the articles of impeachment against Nixon was for his criminal violation of the U. S. wire tap statute? Remember how Congress then passed new laws to prevent such abuses and has continued to debate and modify these laws under every president since then? Bush simply ignored all of this and stated that his spying was “fully consistent with my con-stitutional responsibilities and authorities.” In truth, the Constitution states that it his duty to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” not transcended.

I have to admit that since 9/11, my life as a Democrat has not been easy. Among other things, I have watched a war, which I would characterize as one of choice rather than necessity, escalate, claim too many precious lives, and make our great nation one of the most disrespected and feared in the world.

But there are two things that disturb and scare me more. First is the erosion of our 4th Amendment right to privacy that absolutely cannot be invaded without a warrant based on probable cause. Second is that Bush has dealt a serious blow to the very heart of our democracy - our precious constitutionally mandated and judicially upheld balance of power between the executive and legislative branches of government. Congress makes laws and the President can veto them. If the laws stand, however, then, like every other citizen of this country, the President must obey them.

Checks and Balances. A Federal court has saved our democracy this time, but how long before Bush and his cowboys ride rough-shod over our civil rights right on up to the Supreme Court? If that institution overturns last week’s decision, then the core of our democratic form of government is gone and we are indeed in trouble as citizens of this country and as a nation of this world.

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By Ruth Bracewell
August 17, 2006

Democrats and Republicans alike have become concerned about President Bush’s unprecedented use of proclamations known as “signing statements” which he attaches to new legislation passed by Congress.

By attaching signing statements to new legislation, rather than an outright veto of legislation, Bush circumvents a possible veto override, and reserves the right not to comply with the new laws he does not like.

Such documents are not new and have been used by presidents in various ways. However, the current president has issued over 750 signing statements, a crucial increase over the 575 combined number issued by all the other Presidents in history!

Republican Senator Arlen Specter, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is so concerned that he convened a committee meeting in June to “hear from the administration just what research they’ve done to lead them to the conclusion that they can cherry pick.” According to Specter, “It’s a challenge to the plain language of the Constitution.”

The Constitution Project’s Coalition to Defend Checks and Balances, whose bi-partisan members are former government officials, judges, and scholars, are also concerned about the threat to our system of government. Coalition member Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, says “Bush’s use of presidential signing statements seems to clearly violate the Constitution. Article I gives Congress, not the president, the power to make the laws. Article II requires the president to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. The Constitution also gives the president authority to veto laws he finds objectionable. And if he does, the Constitution says Congress may either override the veto, in which case it becomes law, or it may sustain it, and the bill will fail. By signing a particular bill into law and then issuing a signing statement that declares he won’t give effect to all or part of it, the president effectively circumvents these constitutional requirements, as well as displaces the courts as the final expositor of the Constitution.”

Mickey Edwards, former Republican Congressman and national chair of the American Conservative Union, serves as a member of a special bipartisan task force appointed by the American Bar Association to look into this matter. Edwards says “The president has chosen not to veto legislation with which he disagreed – thus giving Congress a chance to override his veto – but simply to assert his right to ignore the law, whether a domestic issue or a prohibition against torturing prisoners of war. Bush’s signing statements amount to more than an expression of opinion designed to influence the courts; they are a de facto instruction to federal agencies to disregard Congressional mandate.”

Why should we be concerned? The founding fathers established three branches of government – legislative, judicial, and executive – which were to serve as checks and balances on each other. President Bush is negating this process. This concentration of power in the hands of a single chief executive should be a matter of concern to all citizens.

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By Ted Arnold
August 10, 2006

Recently the U. S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The Voting Rights Act requires that states with a history of discriminating against minority voters seek Justice Department approval when making changes in voting requirements. If a voting district is changed, Federal officials must insure that the changes do not weaken the vote of minority communities. The vote to renew the Voting Rights Act received overwhelming endorsement of both Democrats and Republicans and every President (including both Bushes) since 1965. But our Congressman, Charlie Norwood, and all but one of the other Georgia Republican congressmen actively worked to defeat the VRA.

Congressman Lynn Westmoreland of Sharpsburg led the attack on the Voting Rights Act. He claims that Georgia has made much progress in including minority voters since 1965. He's right. But Westmoreland fails to acknowledge that a main reason Georgia has made such progress is because of the Voting Rights Act. And he wants to kill it. So does Charlie Norwood.

We hear lip service from Republicans about wanting to attract minority voters to their party. We've seen it locally. But when the chips are down, they want to take the vote away from those who don't agree with them. Our Georgia legislature, which is controlled by Republicans, voted to change the current law to require a picture identification for all voters. Obviously, those folks without current drivers licenses or passports are the older and poorest among us - and typically minority voters. The law is currently "on-hold" due to a Fulton County judge's decision that it violates the state constitution, but this issue is far from over.

Atlanta Congressman John Lewis pushed back against Westmoreland and Norwood, et. al. He surely knows how hard it was to pass the original VRA in 1965. He has seen the same progress that Westmoreland says Georgia has made; indeed, he may have personally benefited from it - as has ALL of Georgia. He also knows these Republican shenanigans usually show their true hypocrisy. What better example of who the Republicans really are.

This November, let all of us remember the recent Voting Rights Act vote.
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By Scott Smith
August 3, 2006

(Editor’s note: This was written in Central America where the author was traveling on business.)

I was recently in Colombia and Ecuador, and the first thing you learn to say in Spanish in those countries is "No me gusta George Bush." Until those magic words come out you are suspect; as you may know, I have no philosophic problem with that position.

It has been very interesting getting a non-"U. S. media machine" view of the world. I had a fascinating conversation with a cab driver in Panama City (Panama, that is) about the day that we killed 4,000 Panamanian citizens with our bombs and weapons. You remember that little Noriega thing? That was not the only time we killed Panamanians on their own soil. There is a large monument there to the twenty-two university students who were shot to death by U. S. troops as the students tried to raise a Panamanian flag near the canal zone in 1964. They are still generally angry about that one.

The graffiti in Bogatá and Quito is very political - lots of Occidental Petroleum stuff in Ecuador. I saw one in Colombia of Uncle Sam that said, "I want to kill you," but it was spray-painted on a wall backwards so it became an odd sort of "object ? art," but the message was loud and clear. I want to go back and get a photo of it one day.

Outside the U. S., without the support of all the patriotic rhetoric and flag waving guilt-trip garbage that the right wing folks try to lay on us all the time, the insane position that our foreign policy has taken becomes even more farcical.

Being accustomed to the violence that is always present in Latin America, people here have no illusions. They see George Bush for what he really is - a war monger, plain and simple.
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By Mary McGill
July 27 , 2006

Last Tuesday evening, the 18th of February, at 7 PM I had the privilege of representing the Morgan County Democratic Committee at Election Headquarters on Hancock Street to take part as a member the Vote Review Panel for the primary elections. I was there ostensibly to observe the tabulation of returns and to work with my Republican counterpart, John Milliken, as well as Judy Senft and her election staff to review any absentee ballot that might be rejected by the optical scan machine. Yes, shades of hanging chads!

From the swearing in of election staff workers by Judge Mike Bracewell, to the final tabulation of votes, the entire evening, which lasted about three hours, was conducted by the most organized and motivated people we could possibly want overseeing the mechanisms of democracy. It was not a solemn event, but it was a serious one. Luckily all absentee ballots processed without a hitch, and after a few small glitches the electronic process worked quite well too. Our questions were answered with accuracy and a real willingness to explain the procedures. Anyone who has worked to complete any computerized process will easily understand just how difficult and stressful it can be. Imagine doing it with someone looking over your shoulder, and the whole county relying on your accuracy. All of the Election Staff followed perfectly the procedures outlined in the Secretary of State’s rules regarding Direct Recording Electronic Voting. By the end of the evening I had great confidence that each individual voter's selections were counted correctly.

Although I have reservations about the lack of a paper trail (and think we need to incorporate it into the electronic process ), I was reassured that the democratic process here in Morgan County, as far as tabulation goes, is fair and free. We should be proud of the job our election staff is doing, as well as all the people working at the polls, and give them all the monetary help they require to complete this difficult and challenging task.

I would like to thank Ted Arnold, and the Morgan County Democratic Committee, for selecting me to represent my party in the political process. It was a privilege to witness democracy at work regardless of political outcomes.

I got home around 10:30 PM, let my dogs out, fixed a sandwich, and turned on the TV to see how my party did. The news was all about Lebanon.
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By Patsy Harris
July 20, 2006

The confluence of events in the Middle East has become more than unsettling to Americans who remember the propaganda in the build up to the invasion of Iraq - propaganda that claimed that Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction were pointed straight at the United States and her allies, that Saddam was a terrorist, a demon, therefore inhuman, and the White House dictated he be removed.

Just a few weeks ago I did not think it possible to more demonize Iran and Syria. After quite a history of hostility and a more recent capture of two Israeli soldiers, Israel attacked the evil-doer Hezbollah in its Lebanon stronghold, and Hezbollah responded. Both are now lobbing rockets and killing civilians. Syria and Iran have been announced as party to the fray - on track in the process of demonization.

Will the U. S. administration be able to stay out of this conflict, this administration that re-fabricates reality - demonizing people and entire cultures and countries? “Once you do that, you can justify the most extreme measure to include the reintroduction of nuclear weapons as legitimate and appropriate weapons of national security,” said General Lee Butler.

It has been said that when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. A better equipped tool belt, including strong diplomacy and a voice of truth, is needed, or, many feel, the U. S. will repeat recent history and join this misguided destruction.
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By Dollie Pettis
July 13, 2006

The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, of which I am a member. I am by no means an authority, but I do receive a lot of information and am frequently asked to write my representatives in Congress. Here is what I put in the mail recently.

"My husband and I were missionaries in South Korea, and later he served small churches and I taught school in the U.S. We felt that Social Security and a modest pension from the church would provide security for our retirement years, and it has proved to do so. Our children in turn are depending on that security when they retire. What has been collected for that purpose in US Treasury Bonds should NOT BE USED TO BALANCE THE BUDGET OR COVER THE DEFICIT. THAT IS BETRAYING THE PUBLIC TRUST! There are other ways to balance the budget. Privatizing these funds is not in the peoples' best interest, just as the privatized Medicare Part D is doing more for the drug companies and less for the average senior citizen. Please listen to the people!"

Social Security is NOT going bankrupt! According to Social Security's own actuaries, Social Security is running a healthy $1.7 trillion surplus, a surplus projected to grow (not shrink) to almost $3.7 trillion by 2014. The current projections show Social Security able to pay full benefits for nearly another 40 years. Beyond that, there are reasonable, modest adjustments that would ensure the viability of Social Security for many years to come. But, in fact, private accounts would increase our federal deficit by more than a trillion dollars in the first ten years alone.

It is clear that Social Security privatization is still very much a top priority of the President. Do we have enough Democrats and like-minded Republicans to once more stave off the Administration's relentless pressure? It is so important we identify and support candidates who will protect Social Security and Medicare --especially during the last two years of this Administration. It is important that we let our representatives in Congress know our own position on this pressing issue. Like other industrialized countries, it is important that we provide a safety net for all our citizens who are elderly and/or impoverished.
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By Patsy Harris
July 6, 2006

The most respected author C. S. Lewis describes a universal trait of human beings – that of knowing what is right.

It follows, it seems, that all human beings would also share the knowledge of what is wrong, and the whole gamut of values in between. And if that is true, then all voters and politicians know what is right and wrong.

How is it, then, that most of us human beings in the United States have polarized into the two largest political parties in the United States largely based on these values? One party even claims a lock on the highest values.

Former President Jimmy Carter recently offered the following questions for gauging one’s political persuasion based on valus. Folks with high moral and ethical values will not have trouble with the simple answers.

“Do you favor using America's great strength to preserve global peace or for launching pre-emptive wars?

“Do you believe we should protect the environment or let it be destroyed for immediate commercial advantage?

“Do you think that major tax reductions should be designed to favor the richest families or those who have to work for a living?

“Do you agree that the accumulation of enormous and unprecedented government deficits is a fair burden to be placed on our children and grandchildren?

“Do you approve of our government incarcerating prisoners without charges against them, legal counsel, or family visits -- and even excusing or condoning their torture?

“Do you believe we should ignore the advice of Jesus ('Render under Caesar...') and Thomas Jefferson ('Build a wall...') in keeping separate the church and state?

“Do you believe our government should reject or ignore all the nuclear arms control agreements since the time of Dwight Eisenhower?

“Do you consider it appropriate for our government agencies to spy on American citizens without first obtaining the legally required judicial approval?

“Do you believe that political leaders should deliberately strive to divide Americans from each other?”
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By Mary McGill
June 29, 2006

OK, it’s an election year, so let’s talk about money.

As general interest and background, the American Broad Money supply (M3) is what our Federal Reserve (the Fed) prints, pretty much at its own discretion, in U. S. dollars.

The Fed is tasked with creating monetary policy to hopefully control any wild fluctuations that might occur in the production and distribution of these dollars. Through currency manipulation, and many other factors known pretty much only to itself, the Fed attempts to keep the right amount of asset inflation and market action in the mix to create a stable economy.

The previous chairman of the Federal Reserve exploded the amount of dollars the Fed is printing - by 72% in six years to a record $10 trillion dollars. It is the greatest currency expansion ever created.

As a note, the Fed stopped reporting the M3 in March of this year. It’s not a good sign. Devaluation of our currency now appears to be the inevitable conclusion. How far it will fall only time will tell, as trends, primary or other, should always be viewed with caution.
It appears inflation is weighing heavily on the current Fed chairman's mind. He is faced with a devaluing currency, loss of reserve status, and a contrary market. Arguably, the chairman has more real impact on our daily lives than the President.

Americans borrow almost 80% of the world’s excess savings. The U. S. Federal Budget Deficit and Treasury funded debt is over $8 trillion. Our current U. S. consumer debt is 127% of disposable income. It is well to note that rising interest rates could well end up consuming consumers. What happens when the great American Consumer is totally tapped out? Massive defense/offense spending bills, unfunded liabilities, and a whole host of natural and manmade disasters await payment. Into this an American election occurs, almost as a back-drop to the Central Banks of the world.

For a Democrat such as myself, who is also a fiscal conservative, there are grave concerns about the health of our economy. How can we sustain two costly wars, fund education, rebuild infrastructure, clean up toxic waste sites, and a whole list of other critical concerns, simply by printing more money? Can deficit spending possibly be the norm, and at such high levels? More and more, states are having to pick up the bill.

It is a trend I predict will continue. Fiscal policy without a strong urge toward rational economy cannot be sustained.
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By Ted Arnold
June 22, 2006

Morgan County is on the verge of explosive growth. Just next door, Newton County is the sixth fastest growing county in the country. Metro sprawl is at our doorstep, and some state legislators are working to give developers and others a way to negotiate, hidden from public view, deals with state and local development agencies.

Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson of Hiram recently gave a speech to the Georgia Chamber of Commerce in which the Republican promised to reintroduce House Bill 218. That was the bill Republicans introduced in 2005 to allow economic development agencies secretly negotiate and make deals with developers and businesses being recruited to the area.

Public outrage forced Richardson to withdraw the bill in 2005, but now he promises to reintroduce HB 218. He wants to allow those negotiations to be excluded from Georgia’s open records law. Hidden from the public eye, tax exemptions for businesses could be promised, and expensive, publicly-funded infrastructure projects to lure developers could be negotiated. Rezoning requests and environmental hearings, which cover part of the “package” that developers covet, would remain open to the public.

Our Republican State Representative voted in lock-step with Richardson during the past legislative session. Our Republican State Senator bragged that he happily intruded into local issues in Morgan, Putnam and Baldwin Counties. Both our Representative and our Senator rejected a unanimous recommendation of our Morgan County School Board to become non-partisan. We all saw the charade they encouraged when Madison's mayor tried to change the rules that Morgan County has operated under for years. I'd bet dollars to donuts that they'll also support Richardson's attempt to sneak House Bill 218 through during the coming legislative session.
House Bill 218 must be rejected in 2007 just as it was in 2005. Richardson obviously didn't get the message the first time. We must ensure that Rep. Holt and Sen. Grant understand we are watching. Morgan County’s future belongs to us... not to secretly negotiated deals with developers.
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By Patsy Harris
June 8, 2006

My 30-year-old nephew, Johnny, delivered himself of his demons two weeks ago. He was the third suicide, all men, in Madison in a brief few weeks. While I do not selfishly wish for Johnny’s tormented soul to be back with us, I do mourn for the happy soul lost at some point in the past. Had he sought out or accepted the offers of mental health treatment, our smiling surfer dude would still be with us.

Forever we will grieve his loss, remorsefully ask ourselves “what if” questions, and ponder the cause.

Each suicide attempt or completion is unique, the victim being predisposed to the behavior by one or more risk factors. Only a few of these are: previous suicide attempt(s); depression; alcohol and substance abuse; family history of suicide; family history of child maltreatment; and feelings of hopelessness.

Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) also have identified “protective factors” that can shield people from their risk factors and thus reduce suicide:
• Effective care for mental, physical, and substance abuse illnesses
• Easy access to a variety of treatments and support
• Family and community support
• Support from ongoing medical and mental health professionals
• Skills in problem solving, conflict resolution, and nonviolent handling of disputes
• Cultural and religious beliefs that discourage suicide and support self-preservation instincts

As Madison’s recent statistics verify, white men commit suicide far more often than white women or black men and women. This distinction increases dramatically after age 60. The NIMH offers men who are depressed (and their family and friends) a wonderful resource on the internet: http://menanddepression.nimh.nih.gov.

Providing local, easily accessible resources backed by federally-funded research will reduce the number of these tragedies. For more information, go to www.nimh.nih.gov and search “suicide.” Also, see www.cdc.gov/ncipc and choose “suicide” as the “injury topic”.
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By Ruth Bracewell
June 1, 2006

Anybody remember the “Contract With America”? This was the brainchild political strategy engineered in 1994 by Newt Gingrich which resulted in the Republican takeover of the U. S. House of Representatives. Over 300 Republican congressmen or congressional candidates, including our congressman, Charlie Norwood, signed this “contract” with the American public, promising what they would do if they were elected.

One important section was entitled the Citizen Legislature Act, which stated that all congressmen would serve a maximum of 12 years in Congress and then return home to allow other “citizen” legislators to take their places, thereby ridding Congress of what appeared to be “lifetime appointments” for career politicians.

Those 12 years expire this year. According to the contract which all those Republicans literally signed in 1994, we should be seeing a mass retirement of Republican congressmen this year, with hundreds of new names and faces running to replace them in the November 2006 General Election. However, that part of the “Contract With America” has been conveniently forgotten by the Republicans who are in control today and who have now become the career “lifetime appointment” politicians.

The issue of term limits is debatable. We may not necessarily agree “with term limits,” but that was the Republican candidates’ pledge then, and it helped them get elected.

I believe that those who did sign that contract with the American people in 1994 should honor it today. The “Contract With America” was marketed with a tag line that said, “If we break this contract, throw us out. We mean it!” Now it looks like we are going to have to do just that. The only Republican congressmen leaving congress these days are doing so because they have gone to prison, like Representative Randy Cunningham of California, or have been indicted, like Representative Tom DeLay of Texas. I haven’t heard of one Republican congressman who has voluntarily said that his 12 years are up, and he’s returning to private life.

Among those candidates running in 1994 who signed this contract was our own congressman, Charlie Norwood. His 12 years are up now, but he’s running for re-election anyway. Since he can’t bring himself to honor his contract, we need to do it for him. Vote for his opponent.
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By Mary McGill
May 25, 2006

The question is, how quickly we can convert our economy to alternative energies, and who will facilitate the writing of legislation to make it happen? Certainly that is one of the key issues in the upcoming elections.

President Carter, in a speech he gave on April 18, 1977, said, "The energy crisis has not yet overwhelmed us, but it will if we do not act quickly. It is a problem we will not solve in the next few years, and it is likely to get progressively worse through the rest of this century. We must not be selfish or timid if we hope to have a decent world for our children and grandchildren. We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources. By acting now, we can control our future instead of letting the future control us.”

We must require our representatives to openly and vocally support and pass legislation to promote improved gas mileage, lighter cars and trucks, recycling as an intrinsic part of infrastructure, and subsidies to promote the wide range of available fuels and energy strategies awaiting our markets. And we need our representatives to raise CAFE standards for automobile producers to work toward, and achieve.

President Carter went on to say, "Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern. This difficult effort will be the ‘moral equivalent of war’ -- except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not destroy.”

It is not enough that these words were simply prophetic. If we were short of time in 1977, how loudly is the clock ticking now? Our representatives, and those who wish to become so, have a clear path before them. Let us hope they will not be swayed from it. It is my belief that we can have a modern society, a vibrant economy, and a healthy and renewed country. But the time to act is now, and I believe the November elections will be critical to making our energy conversions a reality.
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By Patsy Harris
May 18, 2006

No coffins, no wounds, no blood. Only names, death dates, and pretty pre-war photos. That is how we see the casualties of the war in Iraq. The dead and wounded are quietly shipped home and slipped into the ground or rehab hospitals with only their family and friends to mourn for or support them.

We Americans are supposed to support and cheer the effort, but be screened from the realities.

On Sunday night, May 21 at 8 PM, HBO will pull back that screen and show the gore in an Army hospital setting. “Baghdad ER” will give us a window into the 86th Combat Support Hospital located in that Iraqi city. There, Army medical personnel attempt to pull together men and women who are mauled by the homemade bombs, sniper fire, helicopter crashes, and car bombs.

This is the true, human tragedy of this war, those who are patched up and sent back to the battles, those who die, and those who at times wished they had. The only time I have heard my Air Force son mention anything against the war in Iraq was right after he air-transported an unconscious and maimed casualty back to the United States for treatment.

Reality does a number on the civilian support of any war. The Pentagon knows this. That’s why, as a country, we cannot see and thus mourn the loss or wounds of each soldier and truly appreciate the sacrifice. Remember when 1,000 seemed such a high number of military deaths in Iraq? It’s nearly 2,500 now. What benchmark will next seem so amazingly high?

Don’t hide your head in the sand on this one. Face it like we are forcing our soldiers to face it. Be thankful that you face it from the bloodless TV screen in the safety of your home.
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By Patsy Harris
May 11, 2006

Several years ago I was in my car, alone, backing up my driveway, when I had an epiphany, one of those rare, thrilling moments of realization and understanding. Tears began to flow as I stopped the car in the middle of my street and thought, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Tim McVeigh had just been executed, and a radio reporter was describing the fresh and frank details of the results of the lethal injection. It was that unremorseful killer of 168 people in Oklahoma to whom I was so emotionally remorseful and apologetic. "We had no right," I told him.

We had no right to kill him, to take the body from his life force. It was certainly a new frame of reference that materialized in my mind.

Clearly, within each of us is a life force, I intuited. Call it a soul, consciousness, intelligence, awareness, it certainly separates us from our next of kin in the line of humanity. Some would say it is bestowed by God, some by evolution, some by both.

It is that life force, not the body, that makes each of us fully human. It is the life force that is given only one crack at life on this earth. After death, while the body simply decays and eventually arises again as molecules in other life forms, the life force flows on to its next level - to God or to the nothingness of air or space, never returning to earth we suppose.

Having only one chance on earth gives each life force the supreme value over which no one and nothing should supersede. It is singularly significant and survives on earth only housed within a human body for one lifetime.

No one has the right to destroy a body and remove a life force's one chance on earth - not a premeditating individual like Tim McVeigh, and especially not a premeditating government. We have no right at all.
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By Ted Arnold
May 4, 2006

Is it any wonder why the cost of gasoline is close to $3.00 a gallon?

Where do Bush and Cheney come from?

Why has only lip service been given to alternative forms of energy?

Why was one of the prime rationalizations for invading Iraq, that the oil deposits would pay for the war?

Why has Cheney refused to open records of who helped create this administration's, Energy Policy?

Why is there a special tax incentive for oil industry exploration when industry profits are the highest in the history of U.S. business?

May 1st was the Third Anniversary of President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" photo-opportunity. What IS the mission of the Bush/Cheney Presidency?
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By Patsy Harris
April 27, 2006

Most of us surely fancy we know ourselves pretty well. Individually, each of us thinks we know what makes us tick and what ticks us off.

Each of us usually chooses one of many possible labels under which we fit most comfortably - man or dad or doctor or retiree; protestant or Christian or Episcopalian; of color or black or African-American or mulatto; singer or musician or artist or entertainer; apolitical

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