Archive for January 6th, 2010

This Thursday morning, Republican state lawmakers will gather at the Capitol to take another crack at expanding the list of places where licensed, concealed weaponry can be carried in Georgia.

Over the next several months, we will have arguments – some quite heated – over whether a church pew is the proper place for a .38 stowed under the armpit. Or whether your daughter should be able to pack her princess .22 in a bookbag for a walk across the university campus.

We have been here before. But this year, at least one flashpoint – Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport – is likely to be off the table.

For that you can thank Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian who tried to bring down Northwest Airlines Flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day. With explosive underwear.

In 2008, the last time the Legislature tinkered with the state’s concealed-carry laws, MARTA buses and restaurants that serve alcohol were added to the list of places where you are allowed to pack …

Continue reading Terrorism becomes the new complication for gun bill »

Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, is peddling a book that says the GOP has been on the wrong track for nearly two decades.

This article from The Hill, a D.C. newspaper, isn’t likely to help convince Republican grassroots that there’s been a change of direction:

A 2009 spending spree has left the Republican National Committee (RNC) with its worst election-year cash flow this decade.

The largest GOP party committee has $8.7 million in the bank heading into an election year with 37 governors’ races, a dozen major Senate contests, dozens more in the House and an all-important redistricting cycle on the horizon.

Said one RNC official: “It is very troubling, and the thing is, most people don’t understand this. But it is really troubling.”

The RNC had $22.8 million in cash and no debt when Michael Steele was elected chairman at the end of January, but has since seen its cash on hand drop to less than $9 million at the end of November.

For instant updates, …

Continue reading A Republican National Committee drained of cash »

Today’s editions of the Americus Times Recorder includes an editorial that worries over the effigy of President Barack Obama found hanging this week from a local building in Plains, Ga.

It offers up the bare possibility that the deed was the work of a visiting foreigner with access to the backdoors of businesses in former President Jimmy Carter’s little home town. It could have happened that way.

But who knew “effigizing” was a word?

Sayeth the Times Recorder:

The 2008 Presidential campaign also saw effigies of Sarah Palin, John McCain and Barrack Obama hanging in different states. During that campaign an effigy of Obama with a knife in its neck, covered with blood and hanging from a necktie, appeared on a Redondo Beach, Calif., balcony.

So effigizing a President is nothing new, but what happened in Plains over the weekend brings a lot of heavy topics with it. The image of a black doll hanging from a noose in a main part of a quaint, southern town brings with it a lot of …

Continue reading That Obama effigy in downtown Plains? Well, there have been a lot of foreigners in town »

While there still may be some grassroots grousing about Gov. Sonny Perdue stepping into a Republican primary contest, soon-to-be secretary of state Brian Kemp is running with the endorsement.

He’s sent out this flyer aimed at GOP voters, asking them to join Perdue – and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, and soon-to-be House speaker David Ralston at a high-priced, pre-legislative fund-raiser on Sunday:

See the entire flyer here. Attendees to the fund-raiser are invited to spend as much as $6,100 on Kemp. What would Karen Handel say?

The former Athens state senator, of course, wasn’t Perdue’s first choice for the job. State Rep. Jim Cole (R-Forsyth) turned appointment down on Monday. This morning’s Macon Telegraph helps explain why:

Mercer [University] sent out an e-mail release just after 5 p.m. Tuesday that it would have “new administrative appointments in the Department of Athletics.

“News conference participants will include Mercer President William D. Underwood, Director of Athletics …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Brian Kemp runs with governor’s endorsement; tea party leaders say no to GOP split »