Archive for June, 2011

Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:

● This president is a one-trick pony. He’s absent, and he shows up to string together empty words and phrases that are often highly partisan and polarizing. At this week’s news conference, he demonstrates that the 2012 campaign is under way. Said he: “If we choose to keep those tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires … then that means we’ve got to cut some kids off from getting a college scholarship. That means we’ve got to stop funding certain grants for medical research …” And, using a phrase invented by the left to “balance” recipients’ claims to somebody else’s money: “We’re going to have to tackle spending in the tax code.” If you believe that government owns all your earnings, then, yes, your income tax deduction is government’s spending.

● Decidedly good sense emanates from a three-judge panel on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The panel rules that Congress certainly …

Continue reading Atlanta’s employee pension celebration is premature »

Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:

● U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Thrash’s questions about HB 87 are telling. In a Monday hearing, he questioned its purpose and suggested that it might not be enforced evenly across the state’s 159 counties. That’s because, he hypothesized, local law enforcement could choose to target illegals to get them out of schools, but ignore the illegal who cooks at the town’s popular Mexican restaurant. What he’s describing is what the business and media elite have already done with immigration law. And, too, once you stop trusting law enforcement to behave honorably, ethically and fairly, the rule of law is gone and all laws should be repealed.

● The problem with highway tolls set to alleviate highway congestion is the problem that exists with red-light camera traffic enforcement: There’s a real temptation to manipulate it to give politicians more money to spend for other purposes. An example is Ga. 400. …

Continue reading State’s fiscal leaders get an A-plus »

Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:

● Brace yourself. We’re about to be swamped with “studies” purporting to show that without the extra 1-cent tax for regional transportation, civilization as we know it will end. Just this week two groups advocating for “sustainable development” — one of those trendy buzzword labels that message-manipulators found to replace the disfavored “high density development” — reported a remarkable new “study” that uncovered a sad phenomenon about to befall metro Atlanta — that being “stranded seniors.” Within four years, 95 percent of the old folks here will live in neighborhoods with poor or nonexistent access to mass transit, we’re told by those who want more spending.

● Would that we all had been as curious about the unknown Barack Obama as we are about the emails of Sarah Palin. The media might have done him the favor done her. Headline: “Nothing juicy turns up in Palin email releases.”

● …

Continue reading Spenders will always find a cause »

Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:

● Cobb County has hired the school superintendent who just months ago re-promised his love to the Dallas Independent School District. The Cobb board would have done well to listen to the wise philosopher Reba McEntire: “No matter how much I adore you, I’ve got to stand behind the promise that I made.” Hinojosa “came along one promise too late.”

● A bit of information that reveals the shocking impact of this economic slump. The new cities of Johns Creek and Sandy Springs expect a 911 financing deficit this year that will cost both a million dollars each. Reason? The service is funded with a $1.50 per month fee on phone service. The shocker is that since 2007 Johns Creek has lost almost 500 businesses and Sandy Springs about 330.

● Polls R Us: Only 24 percent of us say we share the ideology of President Barack Obama and of members of Congress, Republican or Democrat, according to Rasmussen Reports. Even more …

Continue reading Economic slump? Just ask 2 cities »

Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:

● The smartest of those on the Left are beginning to recognize that race-based redistricting to protect black incumbents may not be such a swell idea. Why? It tends to drive politicians leftward — and therefore unappealing to the mainstream. That can be a real obstacle to those who run statewide. The 25-year extension of some provisions of the Voting Rights Act pretty much guaranteed another quarter century of racial polarization in covered states, including Georgia. One way to avoid partisan wrangling over “packing” districts would be for the Legislative Black Caucus or the Democratic Party to fix a percentage of minority voters they want in legislative and congressional districts. “Reformers” think the solution is to have “nonpartisans” draw district lines. For the next 25 years, though, that won’t be practical. The reason? Black incumbents, a majority of them Dems, are effectively protected by the …

Continue reading What do you know, HB 87 works »