| Martha Zoller |
In a special session that epitomized everything people hate about Congress, a bill to help states was passed with $26 billion in money that was offset with strange accounting measures. That is something we've come to expect from this Congress--worry about paying for it later, by our children and grandchildren.
Many Democrats were uncomfortable with the vote on August 10, but they may come back to Congress for another vote that will be billed as an $8 billion child nutrition bill. This bill is at the center of Michelle "Marie Antoinette" Obama's "Let's Move" initiative to fight childhood obesity.
First Ladies have testified before Congress on their initiatives. Lady Bird Johnson embraced "Keep America Beautiful," but that was primarily a call to the American people to pick up after themselves. Barbara and Laura Bush embraced literacy issues and lobbied Congress on education spending.
When I heard the initial report on Friday on the findings in the Fort Hood shootings investigation, I almost ran my car off the road. The words "workplace violence" were used.
As if the shooting at Fort Hood was like a fired worker going back in to his place of business and killing his co-workers. Maj. Nidal Hasan is depicted as a loner, who everyone thought was a nice guy who just snapped. This shows nothing but disrespect to the people who died at Fort Hood last November.
By Martha Zoller
I'm not one of those talk hosts who bash public schools every chance I get. I am an "All of the Above" person in education. I believe in choice and one of those choices ought to include public education. The strings should be cut between government and educators. There should be no federal department of education, but in Georgia, where one of the main constitutional responsibilities is providing education, there ought to be some controls on public education.
My husband and I, as well as our children, are products of Georgia public schools and we are proud of that. I am not proud, however, of the systemic cheating that is apparent in APS and Dougherty County schools.
The Governor is right to appoint Mike Bowers and Bob Wilson to investigate this mess. I would urge the Governor to be tough regarding the findings. Any teacher or administrator who participated in the changing of CRCT test responses should be fired. There should be a strong message sent to any teacher, public or private, that this kind of behavior should not be tolerated. We cannot afford to send the message to our children that it's okay to cheat. Any teacher who knew about the cheating and did not report it should be fired. These are not the kind of people we need administrating or teaching in our schools.
Let the investigation go on, but if at the end there is just a fancy report and a slap on the wrist, we have condoned cheating and we will continue to pull another thread out of the fabric of our values as Georgians and as Americans.
By Martha Zoller
I'm not one of those talk hosts who bash public schools every chance I get. I am an "All of the Above" person in education. I believe in choice and one of those choices ought to include public education. The strings should be cut between government and educators. There should be no federal department of education, but in Georgia, where one of the main constitutional responsibilities is providing education, there ought to be some controls on public education.
My husband and I, as well as our children, are products of Georgia public schools and we are proud of that. I am not proud, however, of the systemic cheating that is apparent in APS and Dougherty County schools.
The Governor is right to appoint Mike Bowers and Bob Wilson to investigate this mess. I would urge the Governor to be tough regarding the findings. Any teacher or administrator who participated in the changing of CRCT test responses should be fired. There should be a strong message sent to any teacher, public or private, that this kind of behavior should not be tolerated. We cannot afford to send the message to our children that it's okay to cheat. Any teacher who knew about the cheating and did not report it should be fired. These are not the kind of people we need administrating or teaching in our schools.
Let the investigation go on, but if at the end there is just a fancy report and a slap on the wrist, we have condoned cheating and we will continue to pull another thread out of the fabric of our values as Georgians and as Americans.
By Martha Zoller
I'm not one of those talk hosts who bash public schools every chance I get. I am an "All of the Above" person in education. I believe in choice and one of those choices ought to include public education. The strings should be cut between government and educators. There should be no federal department of education, but in Georgia, where one of the main constitutional responsibilities is providing education, there ought to be some controls on public education.
My husband and I, as well as our children, are products of Georgia public schools and we are proud of that. I am not proud, however, of the systemic cheating that is apparent in APS and Dougherty County schools.
The Governor is right to appoint Mike Bowers and Bob Wilson to investigate this mess. I would urge the Governor to be tough regarding the findings. Any teacher or administrator who participated in the changing of CRCT test responses should be fired. There should be a strong message sent to any teacher, public or private, that this kind of behavior should not be tolerated. We cannot afford to send the message to our children that it's okay to cheat. Any teacher who knew about the cheating and did not report it should be fired. These are not the kind of people we need administrating or teaching in our schools.
Let the investigation go on, but if at the end there is just a fancy report and a slap on the wrist, we have condoned cheating and we will continue to pull another thread out of the fabric of our values as Georgians and as Americans.
The Buddy Darden Rule
J. Randolph Evans
Column No. 1029 (8/13/10)
The rule of George "Buddy" Darden has incumbent Democratic Georgia
Congressman James Creel "Jim" Marshall (Eighth District) worried and he
should be. So what exactly is the rule of Buddy Darden?
Well, from 1983 (when he was elected to fill the unexpired term of
Congressman Larry McDonald who was killed in the downing of Korean Air
Flight 007) until 1994, Buddy Darden represented Georgia's Seventh
Congressional District. He was an immensely popular Congressman. After
winning the special election in 1983, he was reelected five times by
impressive margins with between 57% and 65% of the vote in the 1988,
1990, and 1992 elections.
There was a reason for his popularity. Buddy Darden was a former Cobb
County District Attorney and State Representative. More impressively,
he was one of the most likeable people in Georgia (and still is). He
attends weddings, funerals, and celebrations. He greets everyone with a
smile and everyone knows who he is.
In 1994, his opponent was Robert Laurence "Bob" Barr, Jr. As the son of
a West Point soldier, Bob Barr was no Buddy Darden. Instead, Bob Barr
became quite well known for his "dour" image. He often told his
constituents that "you don't send me to Washington, D.C. to smile." (To
drive this point home, Congressman Barr once said "I don't consider
politicians who smile to be worth a heck of a lot" so he didn't.) The
Darden/Barr contest looked like a mismatch.
Basically, it was a competition between a very popular incumbent five
term Democratic Congressman and a "dour" Republican challenger who did
not smile in a still decidedly blue state. Everyone - insiders,
pundits, state officials, and the media - thought it would be no
contest.
But that is, of course, not what happened. In 1994, Congressman Bob
Barr defeated Congressman Buddy Darden with over 52% of the votes. How
is that possible?
Well, voters in 1994 decided that there were things that were more
important than how well they liked their Congressman. What were those
things? First, the election became a referendum on the first two years
of President Bill Clinton's Presidency. Second, voters wanted a new
direction for the country and the Congress based on the Contract With
America.
Across the United States, Republicans gained 54 seats in the United
States House of Representatives and regained control for the first time
since 1954. In addition to the Seventh Congressional District in
Georgia, there were many upsets that year as popular incumbent Democrats
unexpectedly lost to unknown and under-funded Republican challengers.
In Georgia, Congressman Barr was not the only Republican to defeat a
popular incumbent. Congressman Charlie Norwood defeated incumbent
Democratic Congressman Don Johnson. In addition, Congressman Saxby
Chambliss won the open seat after Congressman Roy Rowland retired. In
all, Georgians ended up with eight Republican Congressmen when the
Congress convened in 1995.
1994 turned out to be an election about issues, not people, and
especially not incumbents.
Now, folks look forward toward the 2010 election. In the Eighth
Congressional District, incumbent Democratic Congressman Jim Marshall
looks very much like former Congressman Buddy Darden did in 1994. He is
well-regarded and well-connected. (Indeed, he often boasts of his
relationship with Governor Sonny Perdue.) He is well-funded.
(Unlike Congressman Darden, Congressman Marshall has not routinely
cruised to reelection. He had very close calls (barely over 50%)
against Calder Clay in 2002 and Mac Collins in 2006 (both midterm
elections). And, unlike 1994 when it was still blue, Georgia is now a
decidedly red state.)
Yet, in other regards, things are very much the same. Like 1994,
Congress' approval rating is in the tank with just 20% of Americans
approving of the way Congress is doing its job. Generically, Americans
favor Republicans to control Congress by a 46.2% to 41.8% margin.
Overwhelmingly, Americans believe that the country is headed in the
wrong direction (61%). And, President Obama's approval rating heading
into the midterm election after his first two years is at an all time
low.
Adding to this mix, Congressman Marshall has given his Republican
challenger some political ammunition. For example, he has opposed
repealing the death tax. And, his opponent is no "dour" Bob Barr.
Instead, State Representative Austin Scott is a small businessman and
Georgia bulldog from Tifton, Georgia.
Nationally, political experts are predicting huge Republican gains on
November 2, 2010. With unemployment staying at 9.5%, a federal deficit
over $13 trillion, and higher taxes on the horizon, issues have started
to dominate voter decision-making just like 1994.
Once voters decide that the 2010 election involves something more
important than how well they like their own Member of Congress, then the
rule of Buddy Darden will almost certainly come into play, and popular,
well funded, and well-connected incumbents are in trouble. That is what
has Congressman Jim Marshall worried.
J. Randolph Evans
Column No. 1028 (8/6/10)
In 2006, Georgia Democrats faced one of the most bitter Democratic
primaries in the history of Georgia. It really was a race to decide the
future direction of the Democratic Party of Georgia for a decade. The
two candidates were Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor and Secretary of
State Cathy Cox. The winner got the chance to face Governor Sonny
Perdue, Georgia's first Republican governor since the 1800s, in the
General Election on November 7, 2006.
Like all primaries between political heavyweights, the Democratic
Primary was bruising, contentious, and personal. It is the nature of
primaries. While Democrats thought at the time that the 2006 Democratic
primary was especially bitter, it was in reality about the same as every
other primary where the stakes are so high. Supporters of Mark Taylor
passionately believed in him; supporters of Cathy Cox passionately
believed in her. When there is such passion, the cuts are deep, and
often take a long time to heal. Some never heal.
In 2006, the Democratic Primary, like in all primaries and runoffs, was
about voter turnout. Each candidate works hard to get their people to
actually show up in the middle of summer and vote. But that is not all
they do. Each candidate and their campaign work hard to dampen the
enthusiasm of their opponent's supporters to show up and vote. This is
where negative campaigns come into play.
Unfortunately, the most effective single tool for dampening the turnout
of your opponent's supporters is negative campaigning. So, candidates
and their campaign teams say really nasty things about their opponent.
The goal of these attacks is not to convince people to vote against
their opponent (although it does have that effect on a few people).
Instead, it is really aimed at convincing the marginal supporters that
they have more important things to do on election day than going to the
polls to vote for such a bad character.
And so the 2006 Democratic Primary went. While the average voter got a
small dose of the negative campaigning between Mark Taylor and Cathy
Cox, party activists and regular Democratic primary voters got a heavy
dose. In the end Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor handily defeated
Secretary of State Cathy Cox with over 51% of the vote, and importantly,
without a runoff. The margin was just over 37,000 votes out of over
480,000 votes. At the time, Mark Taylor believed that his win without a
runoff (with four candidates in the Democratic contest) was a major
victory. The problem is that winning political battles is very
different from winning election wars.
The fact was that in becoming the 2006 Democratic nominee, Mark Taylor
did successfully drive down his opponent's support. Indeed, Cathy Cox
got just over 211,000 votes or 44%. The problem was that her supporters
(both those who voted on July 18, 2006 and those that would have
supported her on November 7, 2006) never came back. Governor Sonny
Perdue easily won reelection with almost 58% of the vote. As an example
of how badly things went, Mark Taylor did not even get 40% of the vote
in 2006. (He received a total of just 38.2%.) To put this in context,
Democrats swept the country that year, regaining control of Congress and
winning governorships along the way - just not Georgia.
In 2006, Democrats had 112 days to recover from the July 18, 2006
primary until the November 7, 2006 General Election with the rising tide
of a national Democratic surge. It was not enough.
In 2010, Republicans will have just 84 days from the Republican Primary
runoff until the General Election on November 2, 2010. The historical
context of the 2006 Democratic Primary sits in the back of the minds of
both Georgia Democrats eager for a return to the days of old, and
Georgia Republicans fearful of political self-destruction that could
jeopardize Georgia's status as a solid red state. Indeed, around the
country, political pundits have moved Georgia from a 'leans Republican'
to a 'toss-up' state.
Of course, there are some notable differences between 2006 and 2010.
Republicans are strong in Georgia at both the top of the ticket with
Republican United States Senator Johnny Isakson and at the bottom of the
ticket where Republican control of the Georgia General Assembly is not
really at risk. In addition, President Obama's unpopularity continues
to grow, especially in conservative states like Georgia. Indeed, it was
not lost on anyone that when President Barack Obama came to Georgia,
Democratic nominee and former governor Roy Barnes was not just in a
different city, he was in a different part of the state altogether.
As some might say, all of this makes the political situation in Georgia
'very fluid.' The fact is both Democrats and Republicans have their
work cut out for them.
Nullification is an important national issue where our Governor (Nathan Deal, and Karen Handel) and Attorney General candidates (Sam Olens and Preston Smith), who are in the August 10 Republican run off election, can make a difference.
Nullification or interposition is where a state declares a law unconstitutional and refuses to follow it or the state protects its citizens from its effects. This is not a partisan issue as the Left would tend to favor state medical marijuana legislation. This has become law in over a dozen states http://www.
The Federal Government justifies both of these laws on changing the meaning of a single word, "among." The US Constitution Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 says "To Regulate Commerce ... among the several states." Our Washington officials seem to believe it says "To Regulate Commerce ... within the several states." Changing the meaning of the word "among" has made all the difference.
We have read over these candidate web sites and cannot find any reference to nullification. We have emailed them for their ideas on this and their answer will be posted at:
http://www.
Sincerely, Bert Loftman
Director of ElectTheRightCandidate.US
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