Wise Solomons needed to guide transportation
The book of Kings tells the story of two women, both claiming to be the mother of the same baby. Wise old Solomon, unable to decide who’s telling the truth, orders the baby cut in two so that each mother can be given half.
At the last moment, one woman relents, proclaiming she would rather surrender the baby than see him killed. Solomon, now recognizing maternal love, awards her custody of the child.
Now, just in case you hadn’t noticed, Solomons are few and far between in Georgia government. So too are responsible leaders willing to sacrifice their ambitions for the greater good.
During the 2009 legislative session, for example, Gov. Sonny Perdue and the state House of Representatives continued their long-running feud over control of the Department of Transportation, the mother lode of patronage dollars. With neither side able to get its way, the governor and House leaders made a deal, essentially agreeing to cut the state transportation baby in half.
Perdue got control of the planning half. The final legislation gave the governor power to name a transportation planning director and in effect dictate which major projects get built.
Under the law, the planning director serves at the governor’s pleasure, ensuring that he or she remains on a leash held firmly in the governor’s hand. It also means that when we get a new governor, as we will in 18 months, we get a new transportation planning director as well.
For its part, the Legislature got the right to appropriate up to 20 percent of state spending on transportation. It won something else as well. On Thursday, Vance Smith, former chairman of the House Transportation Committee, was elected DOT commissioner, empowered to run those parts of the department not controlled by the governor.
(In a further sign of the chaos in transportation policy, Smith becomes the state’s fourth transportation commissioner in two years (a number that includes one interim commissioner).
Now, if all that sounds confusing, good. Because if you’re not confused by all this, you’re not paying attention. The law in question — a law that dramatically revamps how transportation projects are handled in Georgia — was written in secrecy and haste, and it shows. It was also intended to subvert the state constitution, which invests control of transportation in the DOT and Transportation Board, rather than the Legislature or governor’s office. That too shows.
In fact, the law is so confusing and its provisions so poorly thought out that staff members at the DOT and the governor’s office have spent weeks trying to negotiate an agreement spelling out what they think the law might mean.
So far, they haven’t been successful. A draft power-sharing agreement approved last week at the staff level has been stymied by demands by Perdue for still more power. Some members of the state Transportation Board have also expressed reservations about the “points of agreement.”
Even if a deal is reached, serious conflict and disagreement is inevitable. The new law resolves nothing; it merely transfers the competition for power between the governor and Legislature into the transportation bureaucracy itself. As the proposed draft agreement notes, “It is understood that a close working relationship will be key to successful implementation of the law.”
Smith, the new DOT commissioner, was elected unanimously by the Transportation Board. Although he served for 17 years on the House Transportation Committee, he was chosen more for his political ability and connections than his transportation expertise. He has built a well-deserved reputation as someone more interested in solutions than in winning.
At a press conference Thursday, Perdue named Todd Jones Long (corrected from original, and my embarrassed apologies to Mr. Long) to serve as what amounts to an interim transportation planning director. Long, a Georgia Tech grad, is a civil engineer with more than 20 years of experience in transportation.
Both men, in other words, bring talent and experience to the table. But the problem is, no two people can put the baby back together again and expect it to function well.
For the moment, state officials have to make the best of bad legislation and a bad situation. But leaders should already be focused on ways to fix the problems they created. Georgia needs a professional transportation bureaucracy with clear lines of authority and responsibility and — here’s the hard part — the independence to make decisions on the merits, not on the politics.
Let the baby live.
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© 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
233 comments Add your comment
Turd Ferguson
June 19th, 2009
9:47 am
Yes…quite confusing but Im sure Jay Solomon Bookman can dissect it.
ByteMe
June 19th, 2009
10:01 am
the independence to make decisions on the merits, not on the politics
Never gonna happen. There’s billions of dollars at stake and that means political contributions and patronage.
The whole fight is silly and ego-driven. The laws and constitutional amendments concerning the DOT need to be thrown out and they need to start over with the DOT being under the control of the executive branch, since it’s an executive branch function, with funding from the legislature, because that’s their job.
TnGelding
June 19th, 2009
10:02 am
Good column. Roy will save the day. Until then they need to increase the tax on gas so the many travelers passing through our fine state can pay their fair share. For the “no new taxes” crowd, they could be cut elsewhere as an offset.
I forgot you might not have even been born in 1963, Jay. Were you?
Northern Songs Ltd
June 19th, 2009
10:06 am
Jay writes: Georgia needs a professional transportation bureaucracy with clear lines of authority and responsibility and — here’s the hard part — the independence to make decisions on the merits, not on the politics.
It will never happen. All that the nitwits (i.e. the “Ledership”) under the Dome, not to mention the nitwit on W. Paces Ferry Rd, care about is what’s good for them, not what’s good for the State of Georgia. And as long as Georgia voters conitue to return these nitwits every 2 years, we get what we deserve.
Lemon Turd – you have no standing or credibiltity here, go away.
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
10:07 am
Using this logic, Wise Solomon would cut Georgia in two, allowing progressives to live on one side, taxing and running it in the way they wish and conservatives to live on the other. Of course, we all know which side would end up eating their half of the child in the end..
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest
June 19th, 2009
10:08 am
Let us all give this entity more tax money as Jay Soloman Bookman has always advocated.
Jay is cool.
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
10:09 am
Personally, I like to cue in on the words in red. If MARTA can’t balance a small budget, how can they possibly balance a big one??
sd
June 19th, 2009
10:10 am
Yes, the transportation situation in the metro area is one of those issues where you realize SOMTHING has to be done, but its so complicated, that you don’t know what to do at all.
Jay, please write more about David Paythress. I am curious to learn more about him. From what I know now, he seems that he may be a wise person himself. Barnes has already had his chance and we didn’t see improvement in our test scores or our transportation.
Mrs. Godzilla
June 19th, 2009
10:10 am
lemon turd…..very funny!
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
10:16 am
The answer is simple as well as progressive. Lets just kill this new transportation baby before its born..
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
10:17 am
We obviously can’t take care of it.
ByteMe
June 19th, 2009
10:17 am
RealityKing’s answer to the question of “why can’t we do this?” is “we can’t do this right, so let’s not even try.”
How “progressive” of you.
I rule Andy
June 19th, 2009
10:19 am
Don’t need to cut the state in half, we just need to excise Atlanta from the rest of the state. It would be funny to see the “conservatives” with thier hands out beggin for spare change once the bane of “conservative” GA politics is removed from the equation. Where would simpleton Sonny get the money for “Go Fish” once the economic engine of the state is removed? He ain’t gonna finance it with his unsecured loans of 21 million (that he managed to fanagle while in office)…
ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
10:22 am
Meanwhile.., speaking of the lack of a Wise Solomon, and his mindless followers.
>>May unemployment topped 10% in 13 states. Michigan soared to 14.1%, followed by Oregon, Rhode Island, S. Carolina, Calif.
Normal
June 19th, 2009
10:23 am
This is typical Georgia GOP, Screw the Constitution, have secret meetings, make secret deals, but get the power. Our roads and transportation infrastructure is going to suffer…until Governor Barnes names his man…Just sayin’
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
10:25 am
Normal people understand what Obama and his progressive congress has been doing for the last 6 months.
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
10:27 am
Meanwhile.., Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that the United States could defend itself should North Korea launch a missile toward Hawaii and that U.S. officials are carefully monitoring the reclusive nation’s military.
That Bush.., what an idiot!!
BPJ
June 19th, 2009
10:28 am
Yes, “reality king”, we know which Georgia would be the loser in such a split: Georgia minus Atlanta, Athens, and Savannah would equal Mississippi without Oxford. Atlanta is a net contributor to the state budget (a recent GSU study established that Atlanta’s net contribution is even greater than previously thought).
As for MARTA’s alleged inability to “balance a budget”: (a) MARTA has little control over its budget, thanks to an outdated state law which requires half of the sales tax revenue to go to capital expense, even though the system is not currently expanding; (b) the sales tax in question is a local-option Fulton and DeKalb sales tax – MARTA gets no state money, which begs the question why the state has any say over MARTA’s budget (other than plantation paternalism); (c) all local gov’t budgets are pinched right now, due to decreased sales tax revenues.
The reality most of us are familiar with doesn’t have a king.
Normal
June 19th, 2009
10:29 am
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest Your 10:22 downstairs…Thank you.
X marks the spot
June 19th, 2009
10:36 am
What we have here is a failure to complicate. First, we need a short north-south route in order to secure federal funding. Second, we need an extension for the southerly portion of said route so folks can frequent a particular future fishin’ hole. Third, we need votes to insure the success of the second directive so we need an east-west route to insure that a key voter does not sit in traffic when there is a ball game to attend. Fourth, we need money to fund the east-west route that does not come from increased corporate taxation….
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
10:41 am
Georgia would be just fine without Atlanta, Athens, and Savannah. They are nothing but progressively hollow shells that fill each day with conservative professionals from their metro areas. Easily replaced by any other city in Georgia.
Normal
June 19th, 2009
10:43 am
I will think Georgia transportation is working when MARTA gets to Canton… I travel some, and to take MARTA to the airport, I have to go to Buckhead. Nevermind, I’ll just park at the airport. Get us commutor transportation to the northwest, please.
atltrafficqueen
June 19th, 2009
10:44 am
Jay, the planning director’s name is Todd Long.
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
10:44 am
Much like Marietta, Roswell and Alpharetta..
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
10:48 am
And speaking of the lack of Wise Solomons>>
Barbara Boxer Chides Brigadier General for Calling Her ‘Ma’am’ instead of Senator. Mindless to the fact that military protocol advises officers to use “sir” or “ma’am” when addressing anybody higher than them on the chain of command.
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
10:49 am
Anti-Military == Left Wing Radical
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest
June 19th, 2009
10:51 am
If Jay ran the Georgia DOT.
Liberal Nirvana. Of course, everyone would be wearing helmets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dqibvh96Og&feature=related
booger
June 19th, 2009
10:52 am
Its clear to me that what we need is a TRANSPORTATION CZAR. This person should report to the Govenor, and not be burdened by oversight from any other group.
In fact it amazes me that Sonny has done so well so far without one single czar.
X marks the spot
June 19th, 2009
10:53 am
Well, good thing for us here in Georgia that everything is run by Republicans. That way, we don’t have no philosophical differences to contend with and everyone is singing off the same hymnal page because all anyone wants is family values. That’s why we don’t suffer from any shortage of budget money and we don’t have no bloated government and we don’t have no unemployment problems and we don’t have no illegal immigrations and everyone is taken good care of by their church and there are no aborted things because there is nothing but peace and love and caring for your neighbors and such here in Georgia, just like it is in all the devoutly Republican states of the south. And, besides, we can’t afford no car so what good is all this talk of transportation going to do for us. We transport our water the old fashioned way — by bucket. We transport our vegetables by hand from the garden. We conserve by using the water bucket to transport the milk from the cows and even the eggs from the chickens. And, we use our feet to transport all of them things, just like God intended for us to do.
Normal
June 19th, 2009
10:59 am
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest- I’ve quit having flash backs now and just realized you said you were a fellow squid too. Where, when and what?
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest
June 19th, 2009
11:00 am
Barbara Boxer Chides Brigadier General for Calling Her ‘Ma’am’ instead of Senator.
Considering the low esteem held by our Federal Senate, “Senator” is much more appropriate than “ma-am” for Boxer.
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest
June 19th, 2009
11:03 am
Normal-
Fleet Air Recon 2 out of Spain, Turkey, Sicily. 86-94.
If you were strickly west pac, you probably dealt with Fleet Air Recon 1. Out of Guam.
jewcowboy
June 19th, 2009
11:09 am
Normal,
“Get us commutor transportation to the northwest, please.”
You’ll get it when you pay for it. Dekalb/Fulton are not going to foot the bill for Cherokee/Cobb. they already do enough by offereing free transfers to thier system. You have CATs. How’s that working?
Normal
June 19th, 2009
11:12 am
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest – Yeah, I did Guam…went back in ‘75, did a WESTPAC in ‘76 and one of our stops was Guam. Went to the Talafofo Falls (not sure I spelled that right) and had a great time…wine, women, and the local herb…Yeah good times…Just sayin’
jewcowboy
June 19th, 2009
11:14 am
RealityKing,
“Mindless to the fact that military protocol advises officers to use “sir” or “ma’am” when addressing anybody higher than them on the chain of command.”
“Could you say ’senator’ instead of ‘ma’am?’ ” Boxer (D-Calif.) said this week to Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, testifying at a hearing that she was chairing on the levees in New Orleans. “It’s just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title. I’d appreciate it.”
It doesn’t appear she was “mindless of the fact,” it appears by her quote she preferes to be addressed by a certain title. But nice way to try to spin it.
Normal
June 19th, 2009
11:16 am
Jew Cowboy, CATS is, well, CATS on catnip. Too slow, too many transfers, but I thought the powers that be were talking state wide transportation, like the old Nancy Hanks and such, was I wrong?
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
11:16 am
Just think of all the money, and CO2, we could save if Sony would just stopped all but public transportation inside 285. We could build large parking lots around the parimeter and leave all those road lanes open to only bicycles and walkers. Boy, talk about cutting the DOT bill in half..
Mort Merkel
June 19th, 2009
11:17 am
Dear Sonny,
Four-lane U.S. 411 from Bartow County to Tennessee, and then also complete the Spring Place bypass of Ga. Highway 225.
Thanks,
The people of struggling Northwest Georgia
Normal
June 19th, 2009
11:17 am
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest – What was your rate?
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
11:19 am
“I worked so hard to get that title. I’d appreciate it.”???
And here I thought Senators were elected officials, given that title by the people.
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
11:20 am
And as with everything else.., its generally not what you say as much as the contemptuous way in which you say it.
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest
June 19th, 2009
11:23 am
Normal-
AT2.
Yours?
jewcowboy
June 19th, 2009
11:27 am
Normal,
“CATS is, well, CATS on catnip”
I was just making the point that many people blame MARTA for not expanding or for having limited coverage, but it covers the area it was chartered for just fine, with exceptions to the northern and southern tips. Residents in Cobb and Gwinnett, specifically, lambast MARTA for not operating in their counties, and that they have no options, when they themselves created the problem, not MARTA. The want transportation options, but do not want to pay for it themselves. It’s similar to those in Fulton/Dekalb that complain they want train service, not bus service, yet are not willing to foot the bill for the tremendous cost that would take.
Until all the counties in the metro area put aside their pettiness and embrace a regional solution, working cooperatively, nothing will happen. And that will require the voters to make it abundantly clear they want options, and are willing to put their money where their mouth is.
AmVet
June 19th, 2009
11:28 am
“Georgia would be just fine without Atlanta, Athens, and Savannah.”
Hands down, the laugh of the day!
Speaking of speculative foolishness, what if there were no hypothetical statements?
I’m glad to see the new thread. That unsavory welcher/Khameni admiration for Koresh was disturbing…
jewcowboy
June 19th, 2009
11:29 am
RealityKing,
“And here I thought Senators were elected officials, given that title by the people.”
And they do not have to work to gain a reputation to get to the point where they are credible candidates, then have to campaign, and then have to work for their states to ensure re-election?
md
June 19th, 2009
11:30 am
“it appears by her quote she preferes to be addressed by a certain title”
Uppity people tend to forget they are just like the rest of us. She should be concerned with the results and not how people address her. Sounds like the ego may be a wee bit too large.
I Report :-) You Whine :-(
June 19th, 2009
11:30 am
obozo has “inherited” the US economy but the problems with the transportation system the democrats in GA ran up until 3 years ago, they are squarely on Perdue’s dhoulders.
It figures.
It wasn’t a total waste of time and tax payer dollars to build all those rail lines that run everywhere empty, save for the occasional Tea Party, no, of course not.
~~~~~
It would be funny to see the “conservatives” with thier hands out beggin for spare change once the bane of “conservative” GA politics is removed from the equation.
Lord Help Us thinks the ghetto is a money maker, hahahaha, what a clown.
eewwww
USinUK
June 19th, 2009
11:33 am
“And here I thought Senators were elected officials, given that title by the people.”
yeah, and everyone knows that it isn’t work to run for office … and it isn’t work to actually HOLD office … sheesh, you know absolutely nothing about what these people do for a living, do you.
atlpaddy
June 19th, 2009
11:34 am
Normal and Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest need to get a room. Sheesh.
md
June 19th, 2009
11:34 am
“Georgia would be just fine without Atlanta, Athens, and Savannah.”
Depends on whether metros are included considering Clayton is the first system to lose accredation for their schools in over 50 years.
Normal
June 19th, 2009
11:34 am
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest – My rating history is like my life varied and many. When I joined in ‘66, I had no clue so I ended up as a Deck Seaman. Since I was good with guns, I struck for GM and that was what got me to Nam in the first place…While in the hospital recouping, I bribed a PN to get me a Storekeeper test, and passed it. They had no need for SKs in the bush, so I spent my last six-seven months on a gator freighter. Got out in ‘70. Reenlisted again in ‘75 and finished in 91 as an IC-1. It wasn’t pretty, but it was good…Just sayin’
Jay
June 19th, 2009
11:36 am
AtlTrafficQueen, thanks for the heads up. That’s been fixed. When I make a mistake like that I want to crawl down into a hole.
Damn.
Normal
June 19th, 2009
11:36 am
Atlpaddy, care to make it a threesome…Just askin’
USinUK
June 19th, 2009
11:40 am
“Georgia would be just fine without Atlanta, Athens, and Savannah.”
that’s right. who needs Coke, Big Brown, banks, ports, 3 major trauma hospitals or 2 major universities. hey, you’ve got pecan farmers and a dying carpet industry … you’ll do just fine.
jewcowboy
June 19th, 2009
11:41 am
RealityKing,
” its generally not what you say as much as the contemptuous way in which you say it.”
That was not what you said. You said, “Mindless to the fact that military protocol advises officers to use “sir” or “ma’am” when addressing anybody higher than them on the chain of command.”
The BG was using the language of the military. From the tape, it seems she understood that.
Senator Boxer did the right thing by addressing it at the time. The more interesting fact is that this is what you and some in the press got out of the whole thing. Does she have a chip on her shoulder for being one of only 17 of the 100 U.S. Senators that are women? Most probably, and for good reason. It does show women are still fighting a battle to be recognized.
She was straightforward and courteous, about something that was important to her. That is where it should have ended. That it did not distracts the conversation from the levees, which would be more constructive information for the press to report.
Bosch
June 19th, 2009
11:44 am
Ya’ know? After comments like “Georgia would be just fine without Atlanta, Athens, and Savannah.”, I think I will now put Reality King in the box with posters such as Gandalf and Redneck – they are parodies.
Yeah, that works out better.
F. Derrick Hall
June 19th, 2009
11:45 am
Georgia would be a third-world country without Atlanta.
Also, what in the wild world of sports does North Korea have to do with anything in this conversation? And why would North Korea want to bomb Hawaii, or anywhere else in the US? How would that in any way serve them? Stupid-ass neocons, always so easy to fall for the fear-mongering. “OH NO a desperately poor country on the other side of the planet that can’t even feed itself might invade the US! We need to spend trillions on defense and curtail citizens’ rights!”
USinUK
June 19th, 2009
11:46 am
j-boy – well said at 11:41!!
Mort Merkel
June 19th, 2009
11:46 am
I likes me some Savannah.
Bosch
June 19th, 2009
11:49 am
jewcowboy and USinUK,
The Boxer thing? Like big freaking deal anyway. Why is this news? Oh, I know, just so they can criticize Barbara Boxer for something.
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest
June 19th, 2009
11:49 am
Jay-
“When I make a mistake like that I want to crawl down into a hole.”
Be careful that your swollen head doesn’t get stuck after that Phil post. ha ha
Atlpaddy- are you named after road apples.
Normal- You were the real black shoe. Ironically, the only time I set foot on a ship during my Nav carreer was to cash per diem checks. Beleive or not “gator freighters” were better than “tuna freighters”.
Or so some black shoe friends of mine said. Your’s was a different Navy.
F. Derrick Hall
June 19th, 2009
11:49 am
All this thinly-veiled racism is actually pretty funny. And in case you hicks haven’t noticed, the ghettos have been moved out to the suburbs in the past 15 years.
I Report :-) You Whine :-(
June 19th, 2009
11:49 am
Republicans have seized on what they say is the hypocrisy of the fundraiser, noting that Obama has pledged not to accept donations from lobbyists — and saying that while at this one he didn’t take money from lobbyists, on Friday morning he will.
“This is the height of hypocrisy and just one more example of President Obama’s rhetoric not squaring with reality,” said Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC). “Candidate Obama said lobbyists and special interests will not fund the Democratic Party, but now the Democrats are cashing their checks as fast as they come in.”
When you have the state run media stooges at your every whim, why would you tell the truth?
jewcowboy
June 19th, 2009
11:49 am
md,
“Uppity people tend to forget they are just like the rest of us”
Exactly how is wanting to be addressed by your correct title uppity? Is it any more uppity than Andy Card chastizing Obama about not wearing a suit jacket in the Oval Office, “I do expect him to send the message that people who are going to be in the Oval Office should treat the office with respect that it has earned over history.”
Or is it silly made up controversy by the msm, when there are more important matters at hand? Maybe, oh I don’t know, what the BG was reporting on about the levees?
USinUK
June 19th, 2009
11:51 am
Bosch –
“The Boxer thing? Like big freaking deal anyway. Why is this news? Oh, I know, just so they can criticize Barbara Boxer for something.”
actually, it’s a twofer – they can criticize a Democrat who happens to be a woman.
jewcowboy
June 19th, 2009
11:52 am
Bosch,
“Oh, I know, just so they can criticize Barbara Boxer for something.”
Exactly.
Normal
June 19th, 2009
11:54 am
USinUK
June 19th, 2009
11:40 am
“Georgia would be just fine without Atlanta, Athens, and Savannah.”
that’s right. who needs Coke, Big Brown, banks, ports, 3 major trauma hospitals or 2 major universities. hey, you’ve got pecan farmers and a dying carpet industry … you’ll do just fine.
—————————
Hey, don’t forget the big chicken…Anybody here remember the original owner, Johnny Reb. Now they made good chicken…Just smackin’
Bosch
June 19th, 2009
11:57 am
USinUK and Normal,
And there is the big giant peanut down in Plains. We’d have that too.
AmVet
June 19th, 2009
11:58 am
F. Derrick Hall,
“Stupid-ass neocons, always so easy to fall for the fear-mongering. OH NO a desperately poor country on the other side of the planet that can’t even feed itself might invade the US! We need to spend trillions on defense and curtail citizens’ rights!”
The war-first gang aka Bush’s Chickenhawks, (NOT to be confused with Kelly’s Heroes!) are indeed a a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
BE afwade. Be vewwy afwade!
And your correct observation that the ghettos are now in Smyrna, Lilburn and Cumming is pretty hysterical…
USinUK
June 19th, 2009
11:59 am
Bosch – he’d do his sunday school down in Plains, but the Carter Center is in Atlanta … he’d be the Atlanta equivalent of bicoastal (bistatal?)
Bosch
June 19th, 2009
12:01 pm
Transportation threads are BORING – just like tax threads. The only thing I have to say about transporation is that it sucks in this state, especially around Atlanta which is why I don’t go down as much as I’d like to, the government is crazy, absolutely bat excrement crazy, not to create commuter lines into Atlanta and mass transportation around the state – I’d love to hop on a commuter rail where I live and cruise into Savannah. That’d be SWEET!! But no. Anyway.
Tax threads? I’m tax retarded. The only thing I know is that I pay ‘em. And I do know, yes, even a tax retard like me knows that you don’t lower taxes while trying to conduct two wars. And people demand all this stuff, but don’t wanna pay taxes – it boggles the mind.
Normal
June 19th, 2009
12:01 pm
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest – You said my Navy was a different Navy, but I’ve got to tell you, my last 12 years was with the REAL Navy. United States Navy Destroyers. If God had a Navy he would have had nothing but those. Small Boys, man and sea. That was the life.
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest
June 19th, 2009
12:02 pm
JCB- you asked?
Exactly how is wanting to be addressed by your correct title uppity? Is it any more uppity than Andy Card chastizing Obama about not wearing a suit jacket in the Oval Office, “I do expect him to send the message that people who are going to be in the Oval Office should treat the office with respect that it has earned over history.”
It is entirely acceptable and is indeed correct for anyone in the military, regardless of rank, to address the PRESIDENT as sir or ma-am.
A mere senator should not have special privledges.
It was not tackful to bust this man’s chops.
Robert Earl King is cool.
Bosch
June 19th, 2009
12:02 pm
USinUK,
Bistatal. Funny. I just recently visited one of his Sunday School classes. He’s still got it going on even for an 84 year old. He’s my hero.
USinUK
June 19th, 2009
12:03 pm
normal –
I’m sure you’re familiar with the Churchill quote about the the naval tradition: “Don’t talk to me about Naval tradition! It’s nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash”
argh!
USinUK
June 19th, 2009
12:04 pm
Bosch –
I had a friend who went to one of his sunday school classes a few years ago – and I agree with you, he’s one of my heroes, as well.
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
12:05 pm
Boy, talk about irony>>
USS John McCain positioning itself to cut off suspicious N. Korean ship off the coast of China
Normal
June 19th, 2009
12:06 pm
Bosch, Back in the day, they had the Nancy Hanks, a train that went non-stop from here to Savannah. Take it early on a Saturday morning, shop sightsee, and ride her home in the evening. It was cool.
Normal
June 19th, 2009
12:06 pm
USinUK We had no rum…;>)
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest
June 19th, 2009
12:08 pm
Normal-
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest – You said my Navy was a different Navy, but I’ve got to tell you, my last 12 years was with the REAL Navy. United States Navy Destroyers. If God had a Navy he would have had nothing but those. Small Boys, man and sea. That was the life.
I’m with ya. I wish that I could say that I sailed. And destroyer crews ate better. But considering the lodging(five-star hotels), full per diem, and travel, I don’t regret being a brown shoe. In 94, I was facing my first carrier cruise. Didn’t want to leave the fam for 9 monthes so I got out.
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
12:11 pm
“yeah, and everyone knows that it isn’t work to run for office … and it isn’t work to actually HOLD office … sheesh”
Obama is the poster child of what it doesn’t take to be an elected official..
Bosch
June 19th, 2009
12:11 pm
Normal,
Why do all the cool things fall by the wayside? Like, the Pink Pig at Rich’s?
Normal
June 19th, 2009
12:12 pm
USS John S. McCain (DDG56)
“Fortune Favors the Brave”
——————————-
One bad fighting ship and it’s a Destroyer!!
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
12:13 pm
Although I’ll be the first to admit that I am glad he isn’t doing what he promised his mindless followers.
Bosch
June 19th, 2009
12:14 pm
RealityKing,
“Although I’ll be the first to admit that I am glad he isn’t doing what he promised his mindless followers”
Then WHY on God’s green Earth do you HATE him so much? That’s the real question.
USinUK
June 19th, 2009
12:15 pm
normal –
I imagine that makes the sodomy and the lash a lot harder to take.
do you celebrate “Talk like a pirate day”??? September 19th!!! yargh, me hearties!
http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html
F. Derrick Hall
June 19th, 2009
12:15 pm
BREAKING NEWS ON DRUDGE REPORT!
NORTH KOREAN PARATROOPERS LAND ON HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL FIELD IN A SLEEPY TOWN IN THE MIDWEST, AIDED BY CUBAN AND NICARAGUAN SOLDIERS!!!!
USinUK
June 19th, 2009
12:18 pm
RK –
“Obama is the poster child of what it doesn’t take to be an elected official..”
awwwwwwwwww … him so BITTER that him lost … and that him’s party got an electoral swirly in November … bitterbitterbitter …
and, really, the more comments you make like that, the more desperate you look … so keep it up!
toooooooooooooooo baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.
USinUK
June 19th, 2009
12:19 pm
WOLVERINES!!!
Bosch
June 19th, 2009
12:19 pm
F. Derrick Hall @ 12:15 – that’s just mean dude – don’t scare the poor wingnuts like that!
Normal
June 19th, 2009
12:20 pm
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest – I don’t blame you, sailing on a CV is like sailing on dry land, just no oneness with the ocean.
—————–
Bosch, I don’t know…when I was a teen, my girl and I would go almost every Saturday to Rich,s downtown, walk to Davidsons (Macy’s) and back to Bob’s Big Boy for a burger, then to the Realto or Lowes for a movie.
after a little parking deck necking, we’d end up at the Varsity-upper deck too, because I had a cool Car…now those were the days…
md
June 19th, 2009
12:20 pm
“Exactly how is wanting to be addressed by your correct title uppity?”
I’ve had many a CEO that have stated “call me “Bob”, we all know I’m the CEO”,
and I’ve had some that demand they be called the CEO.
Care to guess which were more successful?
Obama is a nerd/Tom Petty is the coolest
June 19th, 2009
12:20 pm
“Why do all the cool things fall by the wayside? Like, the Pink Pig at Rich’s?”
Yeah, that new one is not the real thing. Does any one remember the human pinball machine at the CNN center? Sid and Marty Croft world.
Normal
June 19th, 2009
12:21 pm
USinUK- The only time we did ‘Pirate” was at the Shellback Ceremony, the passing over the equator…That was fun too…
RealityKing
June 19th, 2009
12:22 pm
Not hate. Just a realistic grasp of what the progressive ideals he is actually accomplishing is doing to our way of life. Much like the $1.6 trillion plan to cover less than 1/3 of those currently without healthcare insurance while taxing our benefits but not the unions. The $787 billion government stimulus that has yet to show much if any actual benefit. This years $1.8 trillion budget deficit, etc, etc, etc.
USinUK
June 19th, 2009
12:23 pm
Obama/TP – “Does any one remember the human pinball machine at the CNN center? Sid and Marty Croft world”
ohmygod. now, THERE is a blast from the past!!! I soooooooo remember that! and the pink pig, too …
Dusty
June 19th, 2009
12:24 pm
Barbara Boxer!!
Did someone say Barbara Boxer? She’s a disgrace to womanhood or Dear Abby or Miss Manners of Mother Teresa or even Diane Feinstein.
Now if you like the big mouth, aggressive, rude, overbearing, rabble rouser, I’m-so-great female, she’s the one for you (and nevermind the “cracks” about your wife!).
If the general had called her by her correct designation which I won’t mention here, he would have been long gone and lucky to miss solitary confinement.
I don’t believe she is even the typical Democrat. Maybe not. I’m thinking about it. Might be? Let’s see. Possible. NO? hmmmmmm
Well, as ’tis said: a cactus by any other name is still a cactus.
Bosch
June 19th, 2009
12:24 pm
Obama is a nerd…
Exactly. The new pig is a poser. Courtesy of my cool sister, I have a picture of the Pink Pig on my fireplace mantle – for real.
I don’t remember that pinball machine, but OMG, Sid and Marty Croft were two weed smokin’ geniuses who rocked my Saturday mornings as a kid – along with the Schoolhouse Rock folks. Seriously, who here can sing the Preamble to the Constitution? I so can.
md
June 19th, 2009
12:24 pm
Mr. Hall needs to read a few history books. Crazy evil people do exist in the world and have never been predictable.
Dec 7th, 1941.
Sept 11th, 2001
USinUK
June 19th, 2009
12:27 pm
heading home – have a great weekend!!!