Archive for the ‘Quality of Life’ Category

Moderated by Tom Sabulis

Does government have to play fair? A Georgia environmentalist says it’s not a level playing field when it comes to alternative energy getting the kind of government support traditionally offered to the fossil-fuel industry. A conservative writer counters that the mandating of renewable energy will increase our cost of living, even as air quality improves and natural gas energy catches on.

Commenting is open below.

Clean options merit some breaks, too

By David Kyler

It is often said that morality cannot be legislated, but that doesn’t keep people from trying. Yet the public issues most commonly portrayed in moral dimensions seldom if ever include job creation, technology and the use and protection of natural resources.

Our state and nation would benefit greatly by linking government policies to standards that balance moral goals such as fairness and honesty with other important objectives, including economic opportunity, education, public health and …

Continue reading Alternative energy getting a fair chance? »

Moderated by Tom Sabulis

Sweeping budget cuts are about to begin under the rules of the so-called sequester. Georgia congressmen from both parties write about the damage that will be done by the austerity measure and the political maneuvering that brought us to this economic line in the sand.

Commenting is open below Hank Johnson’s column.

Cuts only way out of spending problem

By Jack Kingston

President Barack Obama has mastered a new kind of politics: Do nothing about a problem, refuse to meet with Congress, and then launch campaign rallies across the country to complain about nothing getting done. The latest example is his campaign against what he describes as the devastating cuts of sequestration. What he is forgetting to tell the American people is that it was his idea in the first place. He also forgets to mention that these “massive” cuts amount to less than 3 cents on the dollar over 10 years.

A little back story: Sequestration was created in the Budget Control Act …

Continue reading Georgia congressmen on sequester »

Moderated by Tom Sabulis

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday involving the “preclearance” provision (Section 5) in the Voting Rights Act, which says nine states and certain areas in seven others must get federal approval before changing election procedures. Most of the affected governments are in the South. Two local law school professors look at the legal challenge.

Commenting is open below Rob Teilhet’s column.

Outdated Section 5 stokes partisan fire

By David Oedel

The Voting Rights Act pushed the South to grow beyond slavery and Jim Crow by helping ensure that every citizen has a fair chance to vote. But can Georgia still be relegated constitutionally to the voting-violator doghouse? If so, does Section 5 violate other constitutional guarantees, souring Georgia politics with racial preoccupations?

The Supreme Court is now pondering Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Despite its 2006 reauthorization, Section 5 still singles out Georgia and eight other …

Continue reading Voting Rights Act debate »

Moderated by Tom Sabulis

Commenting is open below.

The strength in private giving

By Alicia Philipp

In the midst of the rancorous debate over the federal budget and sequestration, whether or not Senator Hagel will be the next secretary of defense, or if, and where, the new Falcons stadium will be built, I want to know why the most important debate is not happening. Where is the civil discussion on what we, as individuals and members of our larger communities, need our community to be? Where are the reasoned voices, including ideas from those whose voices are less often heard — children, elderly, mentally ill, homeless and others?

This discussion requires the acknowledgement of facts. Governments and the nonprofit sector are inextricably linked as we try to address the needs of our communities. The supportive role of governments to the work of nonprofits is critical. According to Lester Salamon in his recent book, “The State of Nonprofit America,” nonprofit organizations …

Continue reading Great need for metro Atlanta nonprofits »

Moderated by Tom Sabulis

Republicans rule the roost in Georgia. Today, three GOP members offer views on Medicaid expansion. A former health company executive says expansion under Obamacare could create jobs and protect lower-income folks. A congressman from Athens and a state Senate floor leader argue against expansion while writing about what’s being done in Washington and at the Gold Dome to meet our citizens’ expanding needs.

Commenting is open below State Senator Charlie Bethel’s column. (There are three columns today.)

Ideology in the way of creating jobs

By Jack Bernard

As a Republican former office holder and proven fiscal conservative, I know there are real limitations as to what government can or should spend. But in the case of Medicaid, I am frankly at a complete loss. As my boss, the CEO of a national health care company, once told me, “The mark of a great nation is how it takes care of the less fortunate.”

For the uninformed, here is the issue. The feds …

Continue reading Republicans debate Medicaid expansion »

Moderated by Tom Sabulis

Hold kids accountable but protect their rights

By J. Tom Morgan

If we expect our children to respect the law, we need to create laws that hold them accountable while protecting their rights. For more than 40 years, prosecutors in Georgia have worked with a patchwork quilt of juvenile law that hurts the interests of our society and our children.

Now Georgia’s General Assembly has a solution before it that can solve that problem. The Juvenile Justice Reform bill (HB242), introduced last week by Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs, represents years of work by numerous statewide organizations and volunteers, including parents, prosecutors, family attorneys, judges and scholars. More than 260 lawyers conducted more than 300 interviews to determine how to create a model law for Georgia. These preparations have been inclusive and transparent; many who want the best for our children had a hand in crafting the proposals. Their effort deserves support from …

Continue reading Juvenile reform needs update »

Moderated by Tom Sabulis

The Boy Scouts of America said last week that it would delay until May a decision to reconsider its policy of barring openly gay people, a policy the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in 2000. Today, a Scouting activist endorses an end to the national ban. But a Christian leader argues that the moral absolute of Scouting has been put up for sale

Commenting is open following Jerry Luquire’s column.

Provide Scouting’s best for all families

By Gary B. Roberts

I am fortunate to work at an organization that values inclusion. I attend an Episcopal parish that is open and welcoming to all “sorts and conditions” of people. I am also an Eagle Scout and the father of an Eagle Scout. I’ve been a Cub Scout leader and an assistant scoutmaster at times in my life. I fully support the Boy Scouts of America.

For the past 10 years, I’ve been working with the Boy Scouts as the host for Merit Badge University at Kennesaw State University. This is an annual event where …

Continue reading Will the Boy Scouts allow gays? »

Moderated by Tom Sabulis

Two views of the post office.  One writer says unreasonable union demands have contributed to the decline of the post office, manifested this week in the announcement that Saturday mail delivery will end. In our second piece, a local resident (not related to the other columnist, also named Berman) laments the disappearance of the written word encased in that wrinkled envelope that may have traveled halfway around the world.

Commenting is open below Sean Berman’s column.

Unions to blame for post office cuts

By Richard Berman

Come rain, snow, sleet or hail, the postal service will deliver the mail — unless it’s Saturday.

The United States Postal Service’s announcement that it will no longer deliver mail on Saturdays is no surprise to those familiar with the organization’s decades-long tumultuous relationship with its unions.

Those unions are furious over the ailing organization’s decision. The president of the American Postal Workers Union, …

Continue reading End of Saturday mail »

Moderated by Tom Sabulis

By Frank E. Shelp

Horrible killings across the country dominate the news and the agendas of President Barack Obama, Congress and many state legislatures.

The discussion involves guns, mental illness and violence in video games and movies. But if guns and a culture of violence fed by games and movies were the issues they appear to be, then a city such as Chicago should be the impetus for concern rather than small cities and towns. Chicago had 10 times the death and mayhem last year than Tucson, Ariz., Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn. combined.

The debate over gun accountability and our society’s gluttony for violence in games and movies will continue. Mental health is the area most likely to be explored superficially, couched in cries for money and involuntary confinement of people with mental illness. Yet it is likely none of the recent shooters would have been hospitalized even if they had been evaluated the day before their terrible acts. Snapshot …

Continue reading Mass killings and mental health »

Moderated by Tom Sabulis

A university professor makes the following argument: Georgia law requires insurance plans that offer prescriptions to include contraceptives. The new Affordable Health Care Act requires all plans to include prescriptions. Thus, some religious institutions’ coverage must provide birth-control drugs they find objectionable. Health care advocates argue that contraceptive equity is important for women, and that it’s a medical — not religious — issue.

Commenting is open below Leola Reis’ column.

Mandate unfair for state employers

By Joseph M. Knippenberg

Georgia’s legislators ought to confront the fact that our churches and other religious institutions are at the moment less free to act conscientiously than most of their counterparts across the country.

The reason? For more than a decade, Georgia law has required all health insurance plans that offer prescriptions to include contraceptives in their coverage. With the advent of Obamacare, every …

Continue reading Contraceptive mandate? »