Bullock to Chat about 2004 Election; Howard Mead To Get Just Desserts; The Religious Right Lost Themselves
Georgia Public Policy Foundation Luncheon on November 9Who better to answer all the questions on
"Election 2004: What Happened and Why?" than
Dr. Charles S. Bullock, III, Georgia's pre-eminent political expert who has written the book - in fact, 17 books - on politics in Georgia. Dr. Bullock, whose accomplishments include serving as Politics section editor for
The New Georgia Encyclopedia, will be sharing his views at a
Georgia Public Policy Foundation Policy Briefing Luncheon at noon on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2004, at the Commerce Club.
The luncheon is scheduled for noon Tuesday at the Commerce Club (
Directions available here). The cost is $25 for members and guests; $30 for non-members. To reserve a seat, please send an e-mail to
Reservations@gppf.org or call 404-256-4050 or 800-423-8867. Media representatives who wish to attend may contact Chris Adams at 404-256-4050 or send him
e-mail.
Read more...
Howard Mead vs. Lawyers, Inc.Rumors have it that nearly every prosecutor, defense attorney, and all other lawyers (and, sitting judges, for that matter) are quite POed at Court of Appeals candidate
Howard Mead for his baseless attacks on the candidacy of
Debra Bernes.
In the days prior to the November 2 election, Mead accused Bernes of being a "high-priced defense attorney" who defended "drunk drivers and drug dealers."
In the November 4 edition of the
Cobb Neighbor, Bernes responded to Mead's attacks with this statement:
"I was disappointed by the tone the race took. I feel [his] ads mischaracterized my career and were somewhat misleading about his career too. He mischaracterized why I went into private practice and [he was] also offensive to the legal profession. All lawyers, even civil attorneys, represent unpopular clients. If we want to be like the Soviet Union and lock them up where no one can see them, then we don't need criminal defenders."Some of Mead's supporters are now going around claiming that
Justice Clarence Thomas was appointed to the Supreme Court with only having a corporate legal background. Not so. Thomas, like Bernes, worked as a prosecutor for several years out of law school before being appointed to the U.S. District Court of Appeals.
In comparison, the only thing Mead has worked in is government law doing the bidding of people like ex-governor Roy Barnes. In fact, Mead, as executive counsel to Barnes, was the liasion between the AG's office and the Governor's office during the time of the redistricting lawsuits from 2000 through 2002. That litigation proved to be the biggest waste of money and attempted power grab ever in this state, and Mead was an integral part of that debacle.
From what we understand, lawyers up and down the state are pretty livid about Mead's ads and will turnout in droves for the November 23 run-off to make sure he is pounded into the dirt. We suspect that Mead will feel like that evil character in the movie
Ghost who, at the end when the window comes crashing down on him, gets carried off by those shadowy things that make that crinkling noise as they grab the guy and carry him off to Hell.
Mead has spend $2.3 million of his own money for a job that pays $150,000. He is rumored to be putting another $750,000 in for the run-off.
If you want to help make sure he doesn't get any further than the used car lot where he will have to pawn his Ferrari,
contact the Bernes campaign to hold a fundraiser, put up a yard sign, and tell all of your friends that they can early vote in the run-off.
OR, if you are going out of town,
apply for an Absentee Ballot by downloading and filling-out an application from the SOS's Website here...and
either mail or FAX the application to your county registrar's office. You will get an absentee ballot back for this run-off to fill-out and mail back to the county elections office. Take advantage of all of the opportunities you have to vote to ensure that the most qualified candidate, Debra Bernes, is elected for the state of Georgia.
This Must Mean These Municipalities Are Run By DrunksBy wide margins, voters in several counties and municipalities approved of Sunday alcohol and liquor by the drink ballot initiatives.
Cherokee County was the most surprising with liquor-by-the-drink winning approval 69% to 31%. Sunday alcohol sales also got approved in Cherokee by a margin of 61% to 39%. Both the City of Snellville in Gwinnett County and the City of Senoia in Coweta County approved of liquor-by-the-drink. Paulding County approved of liquor-by-the-drink by a margin of 65% to 35%.
We figure that the reason why these initiatives snuck past the preachings of all of the holy-rolling churches on October 31 was that the pastors were so busy admonishing their flocks on the dangers of "Adam and Steve" unions that they didn't bother paying attention to the other items on the ballot. Churchgoers either didn't read the ballot OR, more likely, they figured that since it was legal to gamble on Sunday (via the state lottery), what's wrong with a little drinky on Sunday?
And, since the biggest threat to marriage has now been vanquished, the next session of the legislature is rumored to have a push for legalizing adultery on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and on every other Sunday during the session. The "every other Sunday" is not due to religious reasons but more due to the fact that some of the philandering legislators are mandated to visit their own spouses on occasion...and, you know, their Atlanta-based girlfriends (and boyfriends) need a break too!
Letter To The EditorDear PV,
Dr. James Dobson, an extreme right-wing, super-Christian preacher is typical of many pretentious, self-important hypocrites and breast-beaters who want to saddle all Americans with their religious beliefs. Now these people want Pres. George Bush to prohibit same-sex marriages. That would violate the principles on which our Constitution is based. One of the most important and most abiding principles of our Constitution is that our rights are given to us by God, not the government. The government cannot take away rights given to us by God.
On top of that, the federal government is explicitly prohibited by the Constitution from making any law regarding the nature of marriage [
See: U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8, and the Tenth Amendment]. The nature and composition of marriage is strictly a state matter. Each state has the right to define what a marriage is and the federal government can say nothing about it.
Remember what
Thomas Jefferson taught us,
"Whenever any form of government becomes destructive ---it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it." [See: Declaration of Independence]. If the government tries to steal from us the rights God gave us, we still have the right to alter or abolish that form of government, by whatever means are necessary. We did it before, about 230 years ago. The government has to realize we could do it again.
Our Constitution and our Bill of Rights and all the amendments since 1787, except the 18th Amendment, were written to proclaim, secure and guarantee the personal rights of individual citizens and restrict the size, scope and power of the federal government. If an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage was instituted, it would be the only amendment that would take away rights from a class of citizens. That would sound the death knell of our Constitution. That would destroy our Republic.
Gordon CurtisAtlanta, GA
