Archive for April, 2009

NOTE TO READERS: COMMENTING IS CLOSED ON THE OPINION TALK BLOG

In his first 100 days in office, Barack Obama’s administration passed the $787 billion stimulus bill, and faced problems including struggling banks, a flailing auto industry, piracy on the high seas, and a potential swine flu outbreak, among other issues. The president has traveled to Europe and Mexico and given press conferences and town hall meetings.

How would you grade, on a scale from A to F, President Obama’s performance in his first 100 days in office? What would you like to see him tackle in his next 100 days?

NOTE TO READERS: COMMENTING IS CLOSED ON THE OPINION TALK BLOG

Continue reading Grade Obama’s first 100 days »

“We have important decisions to make about how we produce and consume energy. Instead of clinging to the same dirty energy resources, we should embrace a clean energy future that prioritizes energy efficiency and renewable energy,” writes Stephen A. Smith, head of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, in today’s AJC.

Meanwhile, Stan Wise of the Georgia Public Service Commission argues: “The carbon cap and trade system and mandated renewable portfolio standards (RPS) will disproportionately hurt ratepayers in Georgia, especially-low income households.”

Read their full commentaries of their two views and have your say about renewable energy mandates.

Continue reading Can Georgia meet renewable energy mandates? »

By MAUREEN DOWNEY

Two weeks ago, a man entered my son’s high school carrying a knife.

It was my husband.
He was also carrying a pound of brie cheese and two boxes of crackers, all for my son’s French class presentation on the foods of France. At the hand-off in the high school lobby, my son noticed the small paring knife and reacted as if his father were passing him a live grenade or a kilo of cocaine.

“I can’t believe you sent dad with a knife,” my son told me later. “Don’t you know that you can’t bring any kind of knives to school?”

In my defense, I did know that high schools have zero tolerance for weapons. But I didn’t think the class would want to tackle a wedge of cheese with a ruler, so I sent the smallest knife I had. Not small enough, though.

Chastened, no knife accompanied the cake I sent to school with my fourth-graders a few days later for the monthly teachers’ birthday celebration. I’m not sure if the teachers used their hands to tear off chunks, or if the …

Continue reading Zero tolerance doesn’t always add up »

Angela Tuck, the AJC’s Cobb bureau editor, writes about her experiences with domestic violence in an early marriage, something she had not discussed in years.

“Here is a teachable moment — for my daughters and other women who may think physical or emotional abuse is OK,” she writes in part. “It is time to come clean about my past, so they might learn. When I tell them the ugly details, they are only mildly fazed. My story, it seems, is more common than I realize.”

Meanwhile, Yolo Okili, an instructor for Men Stopping Violence, writes in part: “Having acted aggressively toward women in my life, and having now worked with hundreds of men who have done the same, I know all too well that we men commit violence on a broad spectrum. I find some reflection of myself in men who use violence.”

Through Men Stopping Violence, he writes, “I deepened my understanding of the ways in which men support the culture of violence against women. I acquired tools that helped me learn to be …

Continue reading Domestic violence: 2 Atlantans’ stories »