President Downgrade Grasping At Straws On Jobs

I was hoping this Georgia jobs training problem would be dismissed by the feds, but apparently I failed to factor in how desperate this empty suit in the White House is to appear to be doing something about employment in the country without blaming all of his feel good economy destroying plans.

CNN is stepping up to the plate to provide some cover and is another example of how media can report facts while painting a different picture from what the reality is. This little bit is from the CNN article.

Since the inception of Georgia Works in 2003, more than 23,000 participants have completed training programs at more than 16,500 employers. A quarter of them were hired at the firm by the end of the eight weeks, while nearly 60% were employed somewhere within three months of completing the program, state labor officials said.

Sounds great, right? Until you discover that the unemployment rate in Georgia has been above the national average for about 18 straight months. Current state unemployment rate is 10.1% while in Atlanta it is around 10.4%. Now look at the little phrase I put in bold. Notice it uses the year 2003 as a starting point. The program is far less effective then that since President Downgrade has taken over.

New Labor Commissioner Mark Butler, who took office in January, swiftly reinstated the original rules. Since then 1,400 people have received training, 197 of whom were hired.

That works out to about 1 in 10 actually getting a job. The state actually suspended the program for a while because of the cost, something Barry O never worries about, but should be a warning to taxpayers everywhere.

Whatever its value, the program has proved too costly for the state to sustain in the face of Georgia's stubbornly high unemployement. In September, [2010] Thurmond opened up the program to anyone who registered with DOL for employment services. Before that, it had been limited to people receiving unemployment compensation.

The fact is there isn't any jobs to be had, regardless of how much training you have. That little fact seems to keep slapping the eggheads in Washington upside the head but they still can't figure it out. They would rather halt energy production in west Texas to preserve a lizard or ruin the farming industry by forcing farmers to get CDL licenses or cutting off their water to save a fish or raid guitar manufacturers who don't make the right political donations.

How To Fire A Teacher In 20 Easy Steps

Well actually this list doesn't fire them either, it is just the steps a local school district must take but it leaves off at the appeal to the state board of education. Bear in the mind that throughout the entire process the taxpayers are still on the hook to pay not only the teachers' salary but the salary of the replacement teacher along with all the fees associated with the teachers' defense. Regardless of the outcome of the case some of these teachers will still be allowed to keep their pensions.

This has become a hot issue for the city of Atlanta in the wake of the largest teacher cheating scandal uncovered...so far. There is no teacher union in Georgia in the strictest definition of the word but there is a powerful association and in light of statements made by some of their representatives it is pretty clear that they are going pursue every step on the list, not out of any sense of duty to the teacher or to protect someone who may be wrongly accused. Their purpose here is to place as big a financial burden on the city and it's taxpayers as possible as some sort of perverse revenge for outing them.

This is only going to get messier and is meant to be a shot across the bow to any others who decide to investigate teachers in their areas. It is only further deteriorating the opinion of teachers and the education system within the community and the anger is only going to get worse the more this drags on.

Disgraced School Superintendent Has Time To Check Facebook

From a secret undisclosed location, probably one with no extradition agreement with the US, the disgraced former superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools system, Dr. Beverly Hall, has posted a message letting us know that everything that happened wasn't her fault and just the rogue acts of a few individuals. Umm, yeah like a 178 of 'em.

Now there is two ways to take this. If you give her the benefit of a doubt then she is merely an iron willed administrator who only had the children's best interest in mind when she was constantly telling those under her that test scores would improve and she never intended for any wrong doing to take place to accomplish this. Rather she wanted the teachers to get in the classroom, roll up their sleeves and get to work teaching.

I do not apologize for the reforms my staff and I implemented during my tenure as superintendent. The public has a right to hold educators - and administrators - accountable if they fail to teach children what they need to learn. We set goals for our schools because our students deserve no less. But, most importantly, we accompanied our targets and the targets mandated by No Child Left Behind with programs and facility improvements designed to give principals and teachers the means to achieve them.

Or as evidence shows, she tended to turn a blind eye to allegations of cheating whenever they were brought up to her, so while not condoning cheating explicitly by ignoring the reports she was giving her tacit approval.

To the extent that I failed to take measures that would have prevented what the Investigators have disclosed, I am accountable, as head of the school system, for failing to act accordingly. I sincerely apologize to the people of Atlanta and their children for any shortcomings. If I did anything that gave teachers the impression that I was unapproachable and unresponsive to their concerns, I also apologize for that. Where people consciously chose to cheat, however, the moral responsibility must lie with them.

I will leave it up to the individual to decide which of these scenarios you believe.

Unless you were a juror on the Casey Anthony trial then nevermind, have somebody explain it to you.

Uhh, Texas, About That New School Superintendent Y'all Just Hired

The DeSoto Independent School District (ISD), a suburb of Dallas, might be having some second thoughts about the hiring of their new school superintendent.

She won’t officially start work until next week but the new DeSoto Independent School District Superintendent is already under a cloud of suspicion.

New hire Dr. Kathy Augustine comes to DeSoto from the Atlanta, Georgia school system.

Earlier this week the Georgia Governor’s office issued a report naming Augustine as one of the school administrators suspected of giving investigators false information in their probe of massive test cheating.

Here is what the commission found specifically.

Dr. Augustine had a legal and ethical duty not to falsify, misrepresent, omit or erroneously report information submitted to governmental agencies. We conclude that Dr. Augustine violated this by duty by intentionally causing a letter containing false information to be transmitted to the state. Specifically, Dr. Augustine caused and allowed a letter to be transmitted to the state indicating that the investigation into allegations of cheating at Deerwood Academy was complete and that no evidence of cheating had been found.

We conclude that Dr. Augustine either knew or should have known cheating and other misconduct was occurring in schools in the APS system.

Finally, when questioned about the Deerwood Academy investigation and other matters, she made false statements.

Yeah, other then the part about the teachers sitting in the break room changing answers on the test while other teachers were surprised to discover that students who had previously been unable to read passed the CRCT test with flying colors. Of course, the principal making an occasional visit to the break room to get a candy bar and check up on their progress wasn't suspicious in the least.

The ball is in their court now. Let's see just how far that slogan "Don't Mess With Texas" goes.

Before Atlanta There Was Newark, NJ

Before coming to Atlanta to be the superintendent of schools, Beverly Hall was the superintendent of schools in Newark, New Jersey, where, surprise, surprise, allegations of intimidation and coercion were also made against her.

However, I must warn you to be prepared for Hall to say she did not know that such conditions existed. I must warn you to be prepared to be called a liar. I must warn you that you will probably be put into a room and escorted everywhere you go by a security guard until you see the errors of your ways. This is what happened to Mr. Embrey, former Principal of West Side High School now under house arrest, when he was brave enough to speak out for the children.

As for parental involvement which Dr. Hall cites as being important to her, here is what one parent had to say at that meeting in New Jersey.

Allegedly, Hall has since attempted to deny parents their 1st Amendment rights by sending investigators to the homes of parents who speak out at Advisory Board meetings.

This report from 1997 also contains allegations of mismanagement and misuse of funds, cronyism and the picture of a woman who ruled with an iron fist and would tolerate no insubordination in the ranks while painting only a rosy picture of the system she was in charge of.

Something she continued when she relocated to Atlanta in 1999. So if you want to read yet another damming report on this All Star of Academia go ahead and click on the link.

A Culture of Fear, Intimidation and Retaliation

"If Johnnie don't know how to read, he had better on test day"


What this investigation uncovered, and what is included in their 800-page report is, that for almost a decade, what began as isolated incidents of teachers cheating on the standardized tests to improve their students test scores became institutionalized, accepted, and practiced, and all who dare to question it quickly found themselves unemployed with their careers in shambles.

Replace educators with the corporate entity of your choice and imagine how much media attention this would be getting, even in light of the fact that this information is coming out at the same time as voyeur society is going nuts over the verdict in a murder case in Florida. A generation of kids lost, I guess, just doesn't have the glitz and glamor of hyperventilating pundits all offering their 2¢ worth on a unwed and unfit mother in the Sunshine State.

When the Educators Cheat

The results of a massive investigation in the government school system in Georgia, one which involved outside agencies such as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), has revealed what everybody in the state knew. With the release of the report we now have the hard evidence of just how poorly served your children are by those tasked with educating them.

In a report that Gov. Nathan Deal planned to release today, the investigators name nearly 180 educators, including more than three dozen principals, as participants in cheating on state curriculum tests, officials said over the weekend. The investigators obtained scores of confessions.

The findings suggest the national accolades that Hall and the school system have collected — and the much-vaunted academic progress for which she claimed credit — were based on falsehoods. Raising test scores apparently became a higher priority than conducting the district’s business in an ethical manner.

Those in academia of course are spraying excuses in all directions blaming everything from the color of paint on the classroom walls to the No Child Left Behind standards. Let me say this about the NCLB: while laudable in its goal, no reasonable person could have expected it to succeed in the real world. Some people are going to fail. Life sucks, but that is the truth. While it is noble to want help the failures at some point, you have hand them an apron and teach them to ask the customer if they want fries with their order.

Teachers are blaming the lack of parent involvement, which is really hypocritical when they constantly tell parents that they are not adequate when it comes to educating their kids, and over the years have sought to seize more and more control over your child. Administrators are blaming poverty, which will come as news for some of our past presidents, whom I seem to recall rose to the highest office in the land after spending a childhood in a log cabin with no running water or electricity and studied by candlelight.

No, what happened in Georgia, and mainly in Atlanta, is administrators wishing to keep drawing their six-figure salaries started fudging the data and in turn exerted pressure on the teachers. Teachers being predisposed to moral weakness and imbued with a philosophy that there is no right or wrong, only varying degrees of gray which can always be explained away to justify one's actions joined in. Soon these educators no longer knew right from wrong and cheating on tests and fudging data on other reports just became the accepted standard. It isn't just the competency tests that were changed, most other areas related to reporting of information related to the NCLB rules were also.

The investigators’ report, officials said, depicts a culture that rewarded cheaters, punished whistle-blowers and covered up improprieties.

Administrators no longer accurately reported bullying or assaults at their schools. Absenteeism was modified to show no problems and when it absolutely, positively became imperative to suspend a student it was more then likely an honor student for some sort of violation of the Zero Tolerance policy then it was the gang-banger selling crack in the hallway.

The report’s release comes less than a week after Hall departed from the district. It is likely to provide the harshest critique to date of her 12-year tenure, which reached an apex in 2009 when she was named Superintendent of the Year for the nation. [ed-Beverly Hall was the Superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools]

This report, while conducted in Georgia, and concentrated mainly on the Atlanta school system, could have been done anywhere; it is just that the governor could no longer ignore the smell and is indeed an indictment of the government-run school system. A system that is corrupt and dysfunctional at all levels, and like drug addicts, they seek to affix blame everywhere but where it belongs.

UPDATE: This thing is bigger then anybody imagined. Basically if you have a kid in the Atlanta School system they are screwed thanks to those wonderful professional "teachers" and "administrators". The full report is here. I don't know where the kids go to repair the damage. The next time you see your local teachers union out on strike or protesting, drop a copy of this report at their feet. If it happened in Atlanta you have to wonder how many other places it has/is occurring. A powerful indictment of academia in this country which so easily leaves their morals at the door.

Thanks to Instapundit for the link. Make sure to read today's update to this story. Yes, it gets worse.

Illegal Immigrant Kids Stage Protest, Get Their Wish

So a bunch of immigrants congregated at the Georgia state capitol today, some of them were in this country illegally, to protest the recently passed immigration legislation, and some of them got their wish. They got arrested.

A lot of news organizations are no doubt going to pick up on this because of the age of those arrested, they were minors. Here is what they aren't going to tell you. Those folks went with the express intent to get arrested. You see they are being led down this little primrose path that somehow their actions are noble and equivalent to the civil rights protests of the 60's.

The six undocumented immigrants were arrested at the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and Washington streets in downtown Atlanta after the rally at the Capitol, said Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright. They were blocking the intersection by sitting in the roadway and refusing to disperse, he stated.

The three adults are being transferred to Fulton County Jail. They are Dulce Guerrero, an 18-year-old recent graduate from Pebblebrook High School and 18-year-old Jessica Vasquez, who will be attending Pebblebrook this fall. The other adult is Felipe Baeza, age 24, from New York.

The juveniles, two females and one male all age 16, are being released to their parents with copies of the charges for Juvenile Court proceedings.

I wish to call your attention to the high school mentioned because you see it is the same one my daughter attended and well you know how kids talk. In total there were 6 kids from Pebblebrook who attended, all illegals so I suspect that the juveniles whose names were withheld are from Pebblebrook. They started cooking up this little scheme a while back and emboldened by the success of a Kennesaw State student, who in wake of her arrest for driving without a license along with some other traffic violations and lying to the police was allowed to stay in the country by liberal judge and in fact is still a student at said university.

Pebblebrook H.S. fancies themselves as some sort of cutting edge illegal immigrant group. Just before school was out for the summer they staged a walk out by the students, what in my day would have been called senior skip day, to show their dissatisfaction with the passage of the illegal immigrant legislation. Once again they may feel good about themselves and they really are being led around by the nose by the illegal immigrant crowd but that little stunt was nothing more then kids looking forward to summer break and were bored.

They are betting that nothing will happen since the plan by illegal immigrant crowd is to make them martyrs, and right now I wouldn't bet against them no matter what the state wants to do. We already know that instructions have gone out from the federal immigration folks to go easy on those in this country illegally who are in school, and besides it is all about the children after all.

This will wind up being a pop test of not only states immigration laws but a good discovery phase of just how much support the states can expect to get from the federal government in enforcing their laws. It is time for ICE and DHS to decide just who they are sworn to protect and serve.

UPDATE: Remember when I said that it would probably be determined that the others who got arrested would be from Pebblebrook H.S.?

Nataly and her four other Pebblebrook classmates, Leeidy Solis and Rolando Zenteno, both 16, Dulce Guerrero and Jessica Vasquez, both 18, were training over the last couple of days for Tuesday’s protest with 24-year-old Felipe Baeza from New York.

They rehearsed their speeches about how they immigrated to the United States at very young ages with their families.

Deport 'em and then have ICE show up on the first day of school and clean out the rest of them that are using up my taxes to fund their vacation in America. Send them home.

About Those Heartless Republicans

First this story needs one caveat. You can probably count the number of Republicans in Clayton County on one hand, so I am not so sure how much success their fund raising efforts will yield, but still it is a good news story.

After he suffered a stroke 10 years ago, the 44-year-old Harris was diagnosed with an enlarged heart and congestive heart failure. He's been through 2 pacemakers and now has to use a partial artificial heart. He needs a transplant to survive.

Marxen convinced the entire Clayton County Republican Party to take on his Democratic friend as a fundraising project. "They said, 'well, that doesn't matter anyway, you know, he needs help and we need to do that,'" he added.

"We've been friends for so long, if the situation was reversed, I'd do the same for him, too," Harris said.

Alabama Joins Georgia In Passing Tough Illegal Immigration Law

While the recently passed, but not yet implemented legislation in Georgia which targets the issue of illegal immigrants is having it's desired effect, their neighbors to the west have also quietly passed their own version, in essence telling the illegals to keep moving.

What gets lost in all the hyperventilating over states passing these measures is the real reason the pro illegal immigrant community is so upset and filing law suits to stop them. It is the realization that while these laws are merely for the most part mimicking already standing federal laws, the states mean to follow through with the enforcement part. Illegals laugh at the DHS and ICE since they have come to realize that political correctness has hobbled the agencies into paralysis.

In Georgia there has been a howl of protests from farmers who are suddenly finding themselves without a work force this year, but maybe, just maybe if some of those unemployed citizens really want to work they should contact these farmers. I am not going to deny that the work is hard especially in the hot weather we have but it all boils down to how serious a person is about providing for their family through a honest days work or if they are content to continue sitting at home drawing that government check each month. There is a large pool of out of work young people this year thanks to Obamanomics and if you can pry them away from their gaming consoles they could fill this shortfall.

In Praise of Local News

Often bloggers are accused of being the antithesis of traditional journalists and news media because of what seems to be our constant criticism of them. I want to take a moment to offer a little bit of praise for the guys and gals who work studiously for local news outlets.

It is because of the efforts of a couple of reporters for the Chicago Tribune that we became aware of how the Obamas rose to power and used the Chicago political machine to remove obstacles to their ambitions. Another recent case has been the shooting of Iraqi war veteran Guerena by the Pima County police force. The reporters there have worked tirelessly to piece together the story and get the information out. Both of those cases represent just how inadequate the big boys can be at reporting and reflect great credit upon those working on the local level.

Now comes another case that, while lacking the drama, is nonetheless important because it involves a group near and dear to my heart, our US military.

The story started with a YouTube video, like so many stories seem to trace their origins to nowadays, from a couple of NCO's complaining about baggage fees they were charged by Delta Airlines on their return from Afghanistan. At first blush, this story was unthinkable, but thanks to the work of some reporters at a local Atlanta channel, 11 Alive, we got more of the story and indeed got the ball rolling on getting the matter addressed.

The first kudo goes to Bill Liss, a consumer reporter for the channel who, upon being made aware of the video, went straight to the sourc--Delta Airlines--to get their side of the story. At that time, Delta issued the standard no comment. 11 Alive hosts an interactive portion of their newscast once their on-air presentation is over and it was during this session that they got a real sense of just how much this story meant to their viewers. The host Brenda Woods and producer Chris Sweigart began asking questions of those participating in the live chat and also informing them of what questions they were going to pursue. Watching this in action was fascinating, and the sense of commitment they conveyed to get to the bottom of the story came through, so I sat with crossed fingers to see what would happen.

I knew not to expect much overnight, but on each subsequent newscast they provided updates on the story. Right now the story stands at Delta issuing a statement promising to look into the matter, but thanks to the efforts of the 11 Alive crew they aren't letting Delta sit behind a mere statement and I expect that further action will be taken.

In fairness to Delta, they are not the only airline charging service members baggage fees. The reporters uncovered that United and Continental also do. For most travelers, they are probably wondering why baggage fees for service members is such a big deal. We all have to pay them, after all. True, but how many of you as a condition of employment must deploy for a year to war zone then pack up all of your worldly possessions, including your military issued gear, and return back to your home office? It is the charging of service members for having to carry their required equipment that causes the heartburn. Like the soldier in the video states, his fourth bag contained an M4 outfitted with a grenade launcher and a 9mm pistol, items that the TSA sort of frown upon as carry-on luggage.

Anyway, I just wanted to start your day out with a little bit of good news concerning our mass market media, but I have stated many times in the past that the local guys do a far better job then the national guys, and if you want to get to the root of a story you need to visit the source and not rely on the big guys. Also, I want to send more praise to the 11 Alive folks, who awhile back promised to present a newscast that was not merely a recap of the police blotter report and for making their news more engaging for their viewers. They host the interactive sessions several times a day, including an editorial session around 3 PM everyday for folks to sit in on to provide input on the stories that will make it on air during their regular 6 PM newscast. For folks in Georgia I encourage you check out the 11 Alive web site and get a glimpse of what the future of news is going to be. Interactive, engaged, with realtime feedback and more in touch with those whom they serve.

UPDATE: From Delta

After careful consideration, effective immediately, U.S. military personnel traveling on orders in First and Business Class can check up to five bags at no charge. This change also adds dependents traveling with active military on orders. Each bag may weigh up to 70 lbs. (32 kg) and measure up to 80 linear inches (203 cm), which offers added flexibility over the standard 50 lbs. and 62 linear inches (157 cm) allotment. Because of weight, balance and space constraints, Delta Connection carriers will accept up to four bags at no charge. You can read the updates to the travel policy on delta.com.

Before we get too excited, however, I need to point out that this policy only applies to those flying in First/Business class. Most, if not all military fly in coach, so I am not sure this change will have much if any impact. C'mon, Delta, you've got to do better.

Correction: While not contained in the explanation on the blog site, on their parent site they do list the new rules and indeed those flying in economy class are now allowed 4 bags at no charge.

Active duty U.S. military personnel traveling on orders to or from duty stations are allowed up to four checked bags in Economy Class and up to five checked bags in First and Business Class on Delta and Delta Connection® carriers at no charge. Each bag may weigh up to 70 lbs. (32 kg) and measure up to 80 linear inches (203 cm).

Thanks, Delta, for making this right.

I still give all the credit to the folks at WXIA 11 Alive in Atlanta who pursued this matter and I hope they continue to pursue it until Delta realizes that the military doesn't fly First Class, especially on unit moves like this one.

Steers, Queers, and Illegals

Georgia recently passed an illegal immigration bill patterned after the one passed in Arizona, and in doing so has inspired other states to also start passing legislation to do what the federal government won't do. There are a ton of laws on the books at the federal level that they simply have chosen not to enforce, forcing states to take action. A surprising fact to most people is that Georgia is actually second in the nation in the number of illegal aliens. Before the state took action, a couple of counties within the state had already taken action, which helped to push the legislation through the state house.

Now that Governor Deal has signed it into law, there are the supporters of illegal immigrants that have now decided to get very bold and in your face with their defiance of not only state laws but federal laws as well. A movement has been created to create sanctuary places for the illegals to gather. Going over the list of places it seems as if the militant gay community has teamed up with the La Raza types to spearhead this action. A list of these businesses and establishments participating in this overt illegal act is here

Consider this a public service for residents of metro Atlanta, who if they ever did business or frequented these places, may want to rethink that. Who knows, maybe this will be good for business but I would certainly hope some incompetent butt-kissing boob at the Department of Homeland InSecurity might want to take this opportunity to score some points with the boss and schedule some visits. This should certainly make the job easier, since they apparently are not concerned with staying in the shadows like so many liberals like to espouse.

Remember when folks committing illegal acts tried to avoid the spotlight? Hell, nowadays they give interviews, post details on the internet and just basically give a big middle-finger salute to the law enforcement community telling them that the law doesn't mean squat to them. I tend to get a little steamed when folks laugh in my face, especially when they are laughing at me and not with me.

UPDATE: The US Supreme Court has just upheld that portion of the Arizona law that requires employers to use the federal gov't E-Verify system, which is also a key component of the Georgia law.

"Arizona has taken the route least likely to cause tension with federal law," wrote Chief Justice John Roberts. "It relies solely on the federal government's own determination of who is an unauthorized alien, and it requires Arizona employers to use the federal government's own system for checking employee status."

Oh, thanks to former president George W. Bush for appointing Justice Roberts to the court.

So How Was Your Night?

For many of us in the south our night was spent being serenaded by tornado sirens while being dazzled by the light show being put on by Mother Nature.

And we were the lucky ones. For many of my neighbors, dawn couldn't come soon enough and most of us didn't get a lot of sleep. What separated Georgia from Alabama, besides the level of destruction, is that by the time the storms got here the sun had set. A tornado could have set down and nobody would see it. Just hear it.

Here is some video of a town just to the north of me called Ringgold.

There is another town, Trenton, GA that folks are still trying to find this morning. Eyewitnesses can only say it is gone. The fact that the loss of life in the northwest corner of Georgia so far has been low is incredible, but with all the reports of the devastation we expect that to rise through the day.

How bad was it? Because of the darkness while radar could track the storms the only way meteorologists had of telling if a possible tornado had set down was by tracking what they called 'debris balls' on the radar.

But the sun did rise today, and the people around these parts will roll up their sleeves and get to work helping their neighbors and we will make this right. There will probably be little coverage cause you just won't find victims. You find survivors.

Half Million Dollars in Tax Refunds to Illegal Aliens

If you are among the 43% of Americans who actually pay taxes you will be glad to know that the IRS and the federal government is closely monitoring how each penny of that money is being spent.

Okay, okay, calm down and clean off your computer screen. Of course they aren't. Here is just one example of where a half million of your dollars went.

The FBI seized $500,000 in cash during a raid of an illegal immigrant's home as part of an investigation into false tax filings, agents said.

Federal agents and Hall County deputies arrested 34-year old Guillermo Merino on Friday after a traffic stop in Gainesville.

Investigators told Channel 2's Richard Elliot they found more than $50,000 in his car. Afterward, they searched his house and said they discovered more than $450,000 in cash inside the home. According to agents, they seized a total of $540,000.

A couple of points I want to make in regards to this case. One it wasn't the IRS, the Treasury Department, or any other law enforcement generally associated with either tax law or immigration that was involved in this seizure. In fact, you have to feel just a little bit lucky that this happened in one of the few areas of the country where local law enforcement is allowed to check the immigration status of people they detain for law violations. In case you didn't catch it in the snippet above, a stop for a traffic violation is what set this whole series of events into motion.

The other point is that here is a very tangible example of how illegal immigrants costs us all without having to hypothesize on how much of the expense is due to illegals using public services.

The last point is this is just one case. I am sure if this guy figured it out there are several others who have also, which begs the question of how much money is leaving our treasury directly to pay these fraudulent refunds?

Make Room Arizona, Here Comes Georgia

The legislature in Georgia has passed an illegal immigration bill which people are comparing to the one in Arizona, and of course along with it comes all of the fear filled rhetoric revolving around a state that dares to enforce federal regulations. The governor still needs to sign it into law, but since Governor Deal was a staunch advocate on immigration issues while a member of congress I would be shocked if he didn't sign it into law.

So just what does this new law do? For one it makes employers with 10 or more employees use the federal governments E-Verify system to check citizenship status. Critics of course argue that the multi million dollar taxpayer funded system is unreliable and imposes a burden on the employers. The same critics however seem to be quite fine with legislation in regards to healthcare, environmental issues and energy policy. Nope no double standard there. Whereas they find none of those to be invasive or a burden on businesses, spending 2 minutes to access a database utilizing government supplied software somehow is.

So what else is in the bill?

• Empower local and state police to arrest illegal immigrants and transport them to state and federal jails;

• Punish people who use fake identification to get a job in Georgia with up to 15 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines;

• Penalize people who – while committing another crime -- knowingly transport or harbor illegal immigrants or encourages them to come to Georgia. First-time offenders would face imprisonment for up to 12 months and up to $1,000 in fines;

• Establish a seven-member Immigration Enforcement Review Board to investigate complaints about local and state government officials not enforcing state immigration-related laws;

• Directs the state Agriculture Department to study the possibility of creating Georgia’s own guest worker program. Some Georgia employers have complained the federal government’s guest worker program is too burdensome and expensive.

The most curious item for me is the set up of a review board to investigate local and state government officials who DON'T enforce the law.

Finally, of course critics are promising Armageddon upon the state in the way of boycotts and lawsuits. One wonders what is going to happen when they run out of states to boycott.

Oh BTW a word of advice to our neighbors. Expect a sudden influx of folks with a southern accent. South American that is.

Illegal Immigrants Decide Shutting Down Downtown Atlanta Is A Good Idea

File this under how to make friends and influence enemies.

Supporters of illegal aliens took to the streets of Atlanta today creating traffic jams, inconveniencing folks during lunch time and just in general pissing a lot of hard working folks off. Way to go. We got the message. Now leave. No, I mean leave all the way. Right back to where you came from.


The Georgia legislature is considering legislation which would allow law enforcement to check the status of persons detained for criminal violations, require compliance with the federal E-Verify system, and require proof of citizenship prior to receiving public assistance.

The illegals with their liberal supporters are threatening boycotts and scariest of all say they have some entertainers who won't perform in the state. Oh I am trembling now. For a state with 10.4% unemployment, with unemployment in the African American community hovering around 25%, this is a hard sell.

After all, like I saw on a bumper sticker once, Ask the Indians how allowing illegal immigration worked out for them.

I love the quaint catch phrase about humans are not illegal. They are right. According to Obama and Planned Parenthood they are an inconvenience and they have a solution for that.

Nothing would please me more then this summer when school is out, rather then park all those school buses for the summer, load them up with all the illegals we have detained and head for the nearest border crossing. Imagine ribbons of yellow crossing American highways.

Since the county I live in has started enforcing the immigration laws granted to them by ICE we have seen a mass exodus of folks with dark tans and accents that ain't quite southern. It is nice to drive down the streets and not have to be bilingual to read the store signs or the billboards.

Georgia Supreme Court To Decide If Your Kids Can Leave the Plantation

Sometimes it's hard deciding on what to post and this is one of those times. While it's true all politics is local and some events don't have much appeal beyond geographic boundaries, in some cases they also act as a canary in the coal mine type case, and I believe this is one of those cases.

The despicable behavior of the union-led teacher's revolt and, to a larger degree, the extent to which government teachers go to to indoctrinate the children entrusted to their tutelage, came to full light in the wake of the actions in Wisconsin by the teachers reversing their roles and acting like the juvenile delinquents.

In Georgia, there's a case that has been simmering--at times boiling over--and gaining attention only to recede from view while the judicial system continues to stew over the questions. The case revolves around charter schools and taxpayers dollars.

In Georgia. there are provisions in the law which allow tax dollars to follow the student and not the school. There has been a big growth in charter schools in the state fueled mostly by the realization from parents that the government-run schools just were not doing their job. The government schools have several lawsuits trying to stop this expansion for one simple reason: money.

The amounts are considerable. When a child goes to a charter school, that school is entitled to receive the tax dollars that would have normally gone into the coffers of the government school system. This is the money that the school systems count on to fund the exorbitant salaries of the administrators more then the teachers or for anything to fund any sort of teaching activity in the classroom.

The latest case is headed for the state Supreme Court and it's outcome could determine life or death for charter schools in the state.

If the court sides with the argument put forth by the government schools coalition then the charter schools will lose this money.

This is not about education. In fact, nowhere in the plaintiffs case do you see a mention of educational achievement being affected other then obtuse, nebulous terms. It is about being able to continue to live in the lifestyle to which these government bureaucrats have become accustomed to.

Since I began following this story, which I became acutely aware of after my child was out of school and the state mandated that on our property tax bills that the amount going to education be clearly identified, I realized what a huge ripoff the school system was running. I also became aware that it was not the teachers who were the drain on the system as much as it was the administrators. That is a distinction I want to make clear.

Within the government school system now you have two tiers. Administrators and teachers. Administrators encompass everything from guidance counselors to principals to those on the school board. I found it very hard to find any administrator who did not rake in a six figure income.

While teacher complaints of having to do more with less does have a certain amount of validity to it, it is quickly squelched by the revelation that academic achievement has not improved much since the days I was in school and we didn't have those marvelous high-tech gadgets which have become a must have in every classroom.

Introducing competition into the education market is the best way, in my opinion, to improve the quality of the end product and to ensure more parental involvement. I compare it to the way income taxes are taken out. Since it comes out of your paycheck each pay period you really don't notice it and have become conditioned to it; however, if no taxes were taken out and once a year or each quarter you were to write a check to the federal government for your income taxes, you would very quickly become interested in how that money was being spent. That is what happened in Georgia when they started itemizing the property tax bills.

Parents now want to get the best return on the money they are sending to the state and the education coalition simply cannot stand by and watch the little fiefdom they have built up through the years be torn apart by the barbarians.

I hope the charter schools prevail in this legal case, but most reports by analysts I have read do not give them very good odds, mostly based on the arguments being made by the government school lawyers that the institution is the only answer and why do you want to upset the apple cart. For a group that was firmly on board with the community organizer in charge's mantra of change, they sure are fighting it tooth and nail in their little corner of the world.

19 Arrests + 20 Releases = 1 Dead State Trooper

A man with an extensive record of arrests, 19 at last count, including several felony convictions was out on the streets this Christmas holiday from his most recent arrest for drug possession and gun charges two weeks ago shot and killed a Georgia state trooper after being stopped for driving with a busted headlight.

Jail records indicate that Favors has been in the Fulton County Jail a total of 18 times. Most recently, he was booked into the jail on December 11 on charges including possession of cocaine, criminal attempt to enter an automobile, possession of tools for commission of a crime, and obstruction of a law enforcement officer. He bonded out of jail on December 14.

Fulton County Jail records show Favors was also in jail on June 26, 2010; March 17, 2010; February 3, 2010; April 20, 2009; December 12, 2008; April 10, 2008; October 7, 2007; July 12, 2007; April 18, 2000; and December 28, 1999.

During a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, investigators said Favors has had at least 18 prior arrests and numerous convictions. According to Keenan, several of Favors’ prior convictions were felonies, and they included possession of a firearm, alluding police, and drug possession.

According to those that have viewed the dash cam recording of this stop the trooper never stood a chance. After wrecking his car while attempting to elude the officer the man secured his gun. As the trooper approached to make sure everyone was alright shots rang out. Three shots rang out in quick succession and one found it's mark in the head of the trooper. There is little doubt that he was aiming for the head since being the hardcore felon he was he knew the guy would be wearing a bullet proof vest.

There was no excuse for this guy even being on the street and now in addition to the killing of the trooper he will once again face many of the same charges he was just arrested on on December 11. Now a wife no longer has her husband and two children have lost their father all because we have a judicial system which hands out second chances, third chances and in this case almost 20 chances. Officer Lecroy only got one.

UPDATED: I found this in another story about the shooting and just wanted to add it.

LeCroy wasn't able to spend this Christmas at home because of work. But his Thanksgiving visit was much longer than normal, Houston said.

“On Thanksgiving the whole family was here, kids and grandkids. We had a houseful,” Houston said. “Chad seemed reluctant to leave. There was a fire in the fire place and he stayed and stayed and stayed until 1 in the morning. We just commented that, that was unusual.”

It would be the last time he'd see his stepson alive.

Hey Hollywood, Picture This!

While California continues to grapple with a state debt that exceeds most other industrialized and third world countries the obvious answer which eludes Nancy Pelosi and here fellow travelers on the liberal crazy train is once again being proven to bear fruit.

Big movie trucks like those outside the Georgia Aquarium Thursday night are becoming a common sight in Metro Atlanta, as the film industry continues to grow here, thanks to the state's generous tax cuts and diverse locations.

But it brings an additional benefit... jobs. Hundreds of them.

I don't want the idiots in California to change a thing. In fact I hope they raise their tax rates, which will no doubt continue to be a boon to places like Nevada and the bordering states. Oh and don't give any tax cuts to the rich, you know the ones who actually hire people. I am surprised that the left coast elites could overcome their hatred of the red south, full of inbred NASCAR following, bible thumping, gun toting, racist, hillbillies to actually do business in the south but then again it is all about the money after all isn't it. Just like those greedy Wall St types liberals love to demonize. Or insurance companies. Or the oil industry.

Capitalism is good after all. Just wait until they find out we have people down here that can actually write computer code and the good folks of Washington overcome their fear of the sun and start migrating back east.

Child Cruelty Doesn't Translate For the ACLU

A court in Georgia has overturned the conviction and sentence of a women who brutally beat her child because she didn't have a translator for her native language in court. As always with the ACLU there is more to the story so I did some background research on this. According the site TexasTranslator here were the circumstances surrounding the case.

Annie Ling is Malay, has lived in the US since 2000 and her husband is American. Her American defense attorney Justin Grubbs, is himself married to a Malay woman and has a much clearer awareness of Annie Ling's language situation than lobbyists for increased government subsidies. Mr Grubbs explained the charges of cruelty to a child to the defendant with the help of family members conversant in both languages. He also explained the one-year sentence plea bargain offer just as clearly. The defendant rejected the advice of counsel and the case went to trial. The jury saw photographs of the beaten child and sentenced her to ten years in prison followed by five years' probation instead of the one-year sentence she could have had through the professional competence of her attorney. What got the verdict were the photographs of the badly beaten baby Catherine shown to the jurors. There is no language barrier to understanding photographs of a beaten child.

Ms Ling was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in jail along with another 5 years on probation.

I could never be a lawyer. It is just impossible for me to check my common sense at the door in pursuit of some other sort of high ideal. How do people in the legal profession sleep at night?

One question for the ACLU. Who is speaking for the child?