News and Political Feed

Wells Fargo starts Rapid Alerts with Visa

Atlanta Business Chronicle - Tue, 03/23/2010 - 12:16

Wells Fargo & Co. has teamed with Visa Inc. to launch a free service for the bank’s customers who have Visa credit cards. (WFC) (V)

Categories: Atlanta News

Ride MARTA Day on Friday

Creative Loafing - Tue, 03/23/2010 - 11:51

Mayor Kasim Reed to join transit supporters at Five Points station at 3 p.m.

Categories: Atlanta News

Isakson Hospitalized; Full And Quick Recovery Anticipated

Peach Pundit - Tue, 03/23/2010 - 11:10

I just spoke to a staff member of Senator Johnny Isakson who has also sent the press release below. Isakson was admitted to the hospital yesterday, and was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit out of an abundance of caution as they determined the nature of his illness. The Senator is suffering from a bacterial infection and while the treatment is rigorous, he is doing well and expects to return to his normal schedule very soon.

As an aside, I had the pleasure of seeing Senator Isakson at an event in Newnan Saturday evening. He looked great and was having a good time, enough so that the joined the band of Banks and Shane for a rendition of “A Pirate Looks At 40″, with the Senator joining in on the tamborine.

Best wishes to Senator Isakson on a speedy recovery. Full press release here:

Atlanta – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., was hospitalized in Atlanta on Monday, March 22, after complaining of feeling ill and being dehydrated.

“Senator Isakson woke up yesterday feeling ill and very dehydrated, and he was admitted to Northside Hospital to receive fluids and undergo tests. Doctors believe Senator Isakson is suffering from a bacterial infection. Senator Isakson is responding very well to the treatment and is feeling much better. He met this morning with his Senate chief of staff at the hospital and hopes to be back at work soon,” spokeswoman Joan Kirchner said.

Categories: Politics

David Adelman Resigns To Become Ambassador

Peach Pundit - Tue, 03/23/2010 - 11:03

Another special election will be called.

Last Friday, the U.S. Senate confirmed the 45-year-old DeKalb County lawmaker as the new U.S. ambassador to Singapore.

On Monday, the Democrat and early supporter of Barack Obama, when he was a presidential long shot, officially resigned from the Senate.

His departure leaves a hole in the already slim Democratic caucus, shrinking their numbers from 20 to 19.

“It is not going to hurt us much, but every vote counts,” said Minority Leader Robert Brown of Macon.

The caucus will spend the rest of the session a man down, as Gov. Sonny Perdue has 10 days to set a special election for Adelman’s seat.

Tom Stubbs and Jason Carter, the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, have filed for the seat. David Montané, running as a Libertarian, has also declared plans to run for the seat.

Categories: Politics

Reed: Abandoned, vacant homes could become greenspace

Creative Loafing - Tue, 03/23/2010 - 08:23

At Park Pride conference, Reed says he's committed to greenspace program and parks funding... and has a new idea to deal with vacant homes

Categories: Atlanta News

5 things to do: Tuesday

Creative Loafing - Tue, 03/23/2010 - 07:00

1) Woman's Image continues at Hagedorn Foundation Gallery.

Categories: Atlanta News

CD-8 Straw Poll

Peach Pundit - Mon, 03/22/2010 - 23:33

Last Saturday in Tifton, an 8th Congressional District debate was held. I am told the crowd was made up of mostly out-of-towners. Results of the statewide races straw poll can be found here. As you can see, a large number of people were undecided. I am told that both Max Wood and Doug MacGinnitie were alerted to the event with just over 24 hours notice, but still managed to pull higher numbers than their opponents. Take what you will from these numbers.

What I am more concerned with are the straw poll numbers from the 8th Congressional race:

Valerie Meyers 3.17

Ken DeLoach 3.02

Angela Hicks 2.93

Diane Vann 1.39

Actual Vote Break Down can be found here.

Whereas statewide polls were based off of simple majority, the straw poll for the 8th Congressional seat used a weighted average method.

Now, I got several calls over the weekend regarding this debate, specifically the one for the 8th District Congressional race. Organizers were accused of rigging the debate for one particular Congressional candidate. However, I gave the organizers the benefit of the doubt and contacted them. They assured me that the debate would be neutral (no softball or attack questions) and that it was merely to inform the people of the candidates and issues. That being said, I am confused as to why, out of all the races, the Congressional straw poll used a different method. Why would you use a different method to calculate a poll for one race than you did for all other races?

I was told by those in attendance that some of the audience got multiple ballots and that others didn’t vote in everything. Another accusation was that one candidate’s supporters were seen giving them a first ranking without giving other candidates a ranking, detracting from their score. Given that any of these are true, it renders the straw poll useless and/or biased. I know people fight over polls all the time. Some say straw polls are useless, maybe this time they are right.

Categories: Politics

Gonzo Lawmakers - Day 25

Drifting Through The Grift - Mon, 03/22/2010 - 22:38

A daily recap of the Georgia Public Broadcasting show "Lawmakers". The show airs weekdays at 7:00pm with a replay at 5:30am the following weekday.

Day 25

* We must speak of the budget, love. I can't utter a breath. We must, love.

* Day 25 and I'm a week behind again. The session has become my own Sisyphus stone. We - the Legislature, Nwandi, Susan, Valarie, the kids - are all stuck in a limbo of debt and doom. The only way out is to move forward.

* Nwandi is by herself. That's going to be quite a chore.

* Chief Justice Carol Hunstein's first State of The Judiciary. Lord, I'm behind. I've already heard the highlights of the speech and it is full of doom. Tales of judges not working and great mobs of predators flying out of the system.

* When she mentioned the budget, Lt. Guv. Cagle looked like she took a gavel to his forehead.

* Valarie is at Hogwarts with reaction to the speech. The Chief is talking about Mitch Seabaugh's proposal to reduce judges. Sen. Preston Smith, chair of the Judiciary Committee, says there are many solutions but doesn't say which one will work. Rep. Wendell Willard, the House Judiciary Chair, doesn't see cutting judges. This means the thing is doomed.

* Lawmakers is getting pre-empted tomorrow night by some Georgia Tech geekfest. Fortunately, the magic DVR saves our recaps.

* Oh lord. It's the hippie UGA students with the protest of the day. Lots of tie-dye. Shocking. And there's Trevor Southerland of the UGA Democrats. Met him. Nice guy. Practically a communist.

* And now Dubose Porter. With Stephanie Benefield. And Vincent Fort. It's the usual lineup of liberal lions.

* Valarie is doing double duty. She's covering Sen. Chip Rogers weekly press conferences. Bonus points for using the word scofflaws. Suddenly, we're very interested in busting tax cheats. You can see the haze of desperation drifting across the screen.

* Plug for Delta. Because we're going to talk about transportation. Apparently, the only thing they will get done is shortening the terms of the DOT board.

* Road racing! The Senate passed the bill to allow racing on city streets. Bring on the Winder Grand Prix! Given my near future activities, I have a heightened interest in these issues. Stay tuned this weekend for my annual report on something that legally I can't really mention.

* Valarie again! She's like a remote anchor. The House voted down some alimony bill. They are talking about how to deal with the same people marrying multiple times. Which reminds me of this funny story.

* Earnest Dan Weber wants to pass something that will bring more federal dollars to the schools. He's so earnest.

* We need to make sure buses that carry kids have insurance. Yes, it wasn't in there already.

* Back to Valarie again. She must have had a helluva time putting all these on locations spots together.

* Scowling House Clerks! The streak continues! I was getting worried. This is the latest spotting yet.

* More screaming about tax cheaters.

* The Hustler bill. The dirty mag wants to get pictures of that poor hiker girl. We currently don't have a law preventing this type of ugliness. Rep. Jill Chambers is going to explain the bill and Nwandi warns it could be graphic.

* I knew we would hear the word purient. The graphicness was the word "genitals". Well, this is the Bert & Ernie network, so what did you expect?

* Jeff Mullis wants a blue alert to notify people that a cop killer is on the loose. Not a bad idea. But seriously. Aren't we going to start running out of colors?

* Uh oh. Some tax bill to extend the Dekalb Homestead exemption caused some consternation amongst my county delegation. The Chair of the delegation is nicknamed "Coach". Always great nicknames in the House. He wants to delay the bill to talk some more. Scowly Red looks like she's shooting lazer beams from her eyes. How dare they threaten to upset the carefully laid schedule of the Scowly House Clerks!

* Senate Committee passed shortening the terms of the DOT Board. They can't disagree on a transportation plan, but they've got plenty of time to gig they're old adversary.

* Expanded coverage of The Chief's State of the Judiciary speech. Bathroom break!

* Lawmakers flashback! We're going to talk about the '96 budget. There's "Skin" Edge. The old Republican leader. Whatever happened to him? He wasn't caught up in that Dafusky Island awfulness, was he? They are arguing over the amount of prison beds. Not the best flashback but we do get to see ol' anchor Gerald Bryant. He was a good 'un.

* Rep. Michael Harden wants to drug test people applying for Unemployment Insurance. There is so much wrong with this insanity, I can't cover it all here. Since I have some expertise in this area, I may write about it at length. When asked about possible Constitutional issues, Rep. Stumpjumper replies judges make bad rulings all the time. The clarity of his reasoning is stunning.

* Ricky Bevington and her BOOK OF DOOM! Tiger will play at The Masters and there is much rejoicing at the Washington Road Hooters! Lamar Advertising, the billboard people, won't accept
"spas" as customers any more. Lookee there, legislators! The free market at work!

* Leadership series tomorrow with Tommie Williams. But for now, that's a wrap!

Categories: Politics

Angela Hicks Signs “Repeal It” Pledge

Peach Pundit - Mon, 03/22/2010 - 22:33

8th District Candidate will fight to undo federal health care takeover

MACON, GA- Republican Candidate for Congress Angela Hicks today announced she has signed the Club for Growth’s “Repeal It” pledge.  Hicks signed the pledge on the day following a final vote on the House of Representative’s massive health care reform bill over the objections of the American people.

“The people of the 8th District deserved more than just a vote against this health care legislation.  We needed a representative that would stand up and fight against it,” said Angela Hicks.  “Now, our only option is to elect a new majority to Congress that will undo this overreaching, job-killing legislation.  I pledge that I will not only work to overturn this health care disaster but also to present free-market solutions that will truly reform the system.”

The pledge can be found at www.repealit.org, and the text of the pledge follows:

I hereby pledge to the people of my district upon my election to the U.S. House of Representatives/U.S. Senate, to sponsor and support legislation to repeal any federal health care takeover passed in 2010, and replace it with real reforms that lower health care costs without growing government.Hicks continues to emerge as a solid conservative voice for Republicans in the 8th District.  In addition to a growing grassroots network, Hicks has earned the support of State Senator Ross Tolleson, her campaign’s Honorary Chairman, State Representative Allen Peake, and two previous Republican nominees from Middle Georgia, General Rick Goddard and Calder Clay.

To learn more about Angela, please visit www.AngelaHicks2010.com.

A native of Twiggs County, Angela Hicks received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia and MBA from Georgia College and State University. She has started two small businesses including her most recent venture STUFF IT, a mobile storage company in Macon.  Angela and her husband Ricky have two children, Harbor and Bailey, 16-year-old twins.  Since 1996, they also have served as foster parents to over 20 infants awaiting adoption.  The Hicks are members of Ingleside Baptist where Angela is a Sunday School Leader.

Categories: Politics

Graves to resign to run for Congress

Georgia Legislative Watch - Mon, 03/22/2010 - 22:19

This came across my inbox almost as a was hitting publish on the previous post. State Rep. Tom Graves will resign on Tuesday to run in GA-9 State Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ranger), the leading Republican candidate for Congress in Georgia’s 9th District, released the following statement announcing his resignation from the Georgia House of Representatives Tuesday, [...]

Categories: Politics

Graves to resign to run for Congress

Peach Pundit - Mon, 03/22/2010 - 22:08

State Rep. Tom Graves will resign on Tuesday:

State Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ranger), the leading Republican candidate for Congress in Georgia’s 9th District, released the following statement announcing his resignation from the Georgia House of Representatives Tuesday, March 23, 2010, in order to qualify for the upcoming special election in Georgia’s 9th District:

“Earlier today Governor Perdue set the date for the special election to fill the 9th District Congressional seat on April 27. I will resign my House seat effective close of business Tuesday, March 23, 2010, in order to fill the unexpired term in the 9th District. This will enable the Governor to schedule both the election to fill my House seat and the 9th District congressional seat on the same day and save taxpayer money.

“While qualifying for the congressional seat alone would have vacated my house seat, the timing would have been outside the window of opportunity to allow both elections to occur on the same date. Therefore, as a steward of the taxpayer, the prudent decision is to step down early and allow the Governor to set the special elections on the same day.

“Julie and I have been humbled and honored to have been given the opportunity to serve Gordon, Pickens and Bartow counties in the legislature. And, for that, we are forever grateful.

“I am pleased with the Governor’s selection of the earliest possible election date. My family and I look forward to the campaign and the opportunity to serve the people of Georgia’s 9th Congressional District.”

Qualifying for the congressional seat will take place March 29-31. Per state law, Graves would have automatically vacated his House seat upon qualifying. Resigning early allows the special elections for the Graves’ House seat and the 9th District Congressional seat to take place on the same day.

Categories: Politics

Governor sets special election date in GA-9

Georgia Legislative Watch - Mon, 03/22/2010 - 21:48

The resignation of US Rep. Nathan Deal, who is running for governor, will have an impact on at least two members of the legislature, Rep. Tom Graves and Sen. Lee Hawkins. They will have to resign their seats when they qualify to succeed Deal: Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that he has issued a writ of [...]

Categories: Politics

Adelman resigns

Georgia Legislative Watch - Mon, 03/22/2010 - 21:41

After being confirmed by the United States Senate as the new ambassador to Singapore, Sen. David Adelman has resigned from the legislature: Sen. David Adelman said his final goodbyes Monday, making what he said was the speech his wife has been trying to make him deliver for more than seven years. Last Friday, the U.S. Senate confirmed [...]

Categories: Politics

Hospital tax will be heard tomorrow

Georgia Legislative Watch - Mon, 03/22/2010 - 21:36

Gov. Sonny Perdue’s floor leaders will present legislation tomorrow to the House Appropriations Committee that would impose a 1.6% tax on hospitals. This new tax will cost hospitals over $200 million and benefit of public facilities.

Categories: Politics

Perdue’s tax on hospitals will be heard in committee

Peach Pundit - Mon, 03/22/2010 - 21:28

Gov. Sonny Perdue wants to make health care an issue in Georgia, but his floor leaders will be presenting legislation tomorrow to the House Appropriations Committee that would impose a 1.6% tax on hospitals.

This new tax will cost hospitals, and ostensibly consumers, over $200 million and penalize private hospitals in favor of government-run facilities.

Categories: Politics

The Countdown to John King, USA

Peach Pundit - Mon, 03/22/2010 - 18:00

So you might have heard a little something about me being on television a bit more regularly. It starts tonight.

7:00 p.m. ET on CNN you can tune in to John King, USA and I’ll be there live from Atlanta.

Categories: Politics

Georgia General Assembly Moves Crossover Day To Friday

Georgia Legislative Watch - Mon, 03/22/2010 - 16:24

Crossover Day, one of the longest legislative days of the year, has been moved from Thursday to Friday. The Georgia House & Senate today adopted Senate Resolution 1322 which sets the 29th and 30th legislative days for Wednesday, March 23rd and Friday, March 26th. The legislature will not be in session on Tuesday of this [...]

Categories: Politics

North Fulton wants to secede

Creative Loafing - Mon, 03/22/2010 - 14:36

Support grows for a Milton County bill — too bad it may be illegal

Categories: Atlanta News

Morning Newsdome: Newt Gingrich thinks civil rights was a mistake?

Creative Loafing - Mon, 03/22/2010 - 12:33

A daily round-up of all that's important from around the world

Categories: Atlanta News

Barr: Prescription Drug Monitoring puts your privacy at risk

Peach Pundit - Mon, 03/22/2010 - 12:20

Bob Barr takes on the Prescription Drug Monitoring Act, which is currently awaiting placement on the calendar in the Senate:

Federal and state drug agencies want Georgia to create a database of doctors who prescribe pain medications, pharmacists who fill prescriptions for pain medications, and patients who receive prescription pain medications. And law enforcement agencies are employing a full-court press in the General Assembly to get what they want. Whether they succeed against a coalition of state senators and representatives concerned about such a privacy-invasive database, remains very much up in the air as the General Assembly enters the home stretch of its 40-day session. Hanging in the balance is the question of whether law enforcement and regulatory agencies across the state and across the nation will have ready access to Georgia citizens’ private medication records — to be analyzed, cataloged and manipulated in ways they will never know.

It isn’t that law enforcement is interested in data basing every prescription a doctor writes and which a pharmacist fills; at least not yet. The immediate concern is with pain medication; especially those in the opiate family of drugs, such as oxycontin, included on the federal and state “controlled substances” lists. Also included in such a large dragnet, however, are many prescription medications other than pain pills; medications such as sleep aids, behavior drugs like Ritalin, and cold medications including pseudoephedrine.

Granted, these pain medications obviously can be and are abused (as are many medications that do not appear on the federal list); and some people do obtain bogus prescriptions for them, or collect multiple prescriptions and have them filled at different pharmacies in order to disguise the large quantity of the pills they are obtaining. However, the solution being touted by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), by the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency, and by similar law enforcement agencies across the country, is the typical one preferred by government at all levels – monitor everybody in order to catch the [relatively] few abusers.

Leaving aside for the moment the fundamental principle that what a doctor prescribes for a patient should be the concern of the doctor and his patient, and not law enforcement or government regulators, the bill pending before the Georgia General Assembly (currently, SB 418) to create a mandatory electronic database to monitor prescription drugs, sweeps far too broadly and raises serious privacy and other constitutional concerns.

Call your legislator and tell them to vote against this bill.

Categories: Politics