The headlines on the KIA plant for West Georgia remind me of an old George and Gracie Burns routine where Gracie describes how her brother got run over by a truck. Seems he was wearing two pairs of pants and the driver couldn't tell if he was coming or going (hey — the material is almost 70 years old!)
Anyway, here are the headlines:
Filed under Economies, Uncategorized
Jim Wooten’s editorial today briefly mentions “social contract” – which is one of the center principles that our Founding Fathers based this country’s governance upon. We, all of us, need to remember it’s all about us and not so much about “me”.
Filed under Government, Uncategorized
Here, in a concise nutshell found in Tom Friedman's column today, is how the economy will work this century:
Mr. Raju said: "We told ourselves: if business process outsourcing can be done from cities in India to support cities in the developed world, why can't it be done by villages in India to support cities in India. … Things like processing employee records can be done from anywhere, so there is no reason it can't be done from a village." Satyam began with two villages a year ago and plans to scale up to 150.
There is enough bandwidth now, even reaching big Indian villages, to parcel out this work, and the villagers are very eager. "The attrition level is low, and the commitment levels high," Mr. Raju said. "It is a way of breathing economic life into villages." It gives educated villagers a chance to stay on the land, he said, and not have to migrate to the cities.
Any town, any place with bandwidth can play — but, you have got to have the knowledge workers to do it…
Of course, you also have to change the model for intellectualy property management. Dana Blankenhorn nails it in his column defining Open Source:
Think about it. You make more money sharing your knowledge than trying to control it. You deliver more value, you sell more equipment, you earn more money through support and infrastructure, if you end your obsession with "Intellectual Property".
Postscript : Friedman's column talks about Google Finance – (which I posted a couple a months ago) as an idea conceived and executed by Indians.
Filed under Economies, LMI, Uncategorized
This morning's editorial in the Macon Telegraph unveils the not-so-secret strategy for this fall:
A similar same-sex amendment in Louisiana, which also has a single-subject requirement, had already been struck down by a state court prior to Georgia's vote. So, why didn't the governor and Legislature fix the amendment? Simple politics.
The effort to ban same-sex marriages, though already illegal in Georgia, was part of a nationwide political strategy to energize the conservative base of the Republican Party. In 2004, 11 states overwhelmingly passed same-sex marriage bans.
Perdue is right in one respect, the people of Georgia did know what they were doing when they voted to ban same-sex marriages. It was their elected officials who knowingly messed up the process and are now going to add insult by needlessly appealing the judge's decision.
Filed under Politics, Religion, Uncategorized
Coming to a legislature near you – –August 9 A special Session to correct the wrong committed 2 years ago (at your expense)- unless those unrighteous Supreme Court justices correct the wrong of the Superior Court Judge who dared to read the Constitution
Now, can someone explain to me separation of powers?
Filed under Uncategorized
Ms. Sadie Fields is expressing her unrighteous indignation over a Judge's ruling that the amendment to the Georgia Constitution (adopted with more than 76% approval in 2004) was improperly framed.
Two quotes are worth reviewing:
“We're looking to Thurbert Baker to do the right thing and vigorously defend what the legislature has done and the will of the people — 77 percent voting that we want marriage defined as one man, one woman, period,” said Fields. WXIA
"We will be back, and we will ensure that marriage in the state of Georgia is defined biblically as being between a man and a woman." AJC
As to the first quote, I imagine she thinks Al Gore should be president today. If it weren't for the activist judges on the US Supreme Court, he would be.
And, a majority of Georgians voted for the Constitution which sets the rules for how ballot issues should be managed. Those in charge failed to follow the will of the people in designing the ballot issue, a strategy which the Judge faulted in her reasoning. So, who is failing to follow the will of the people – the legislature, sworn to protect the Constitution, or the judge, also sworn to protect and uphold the Constitution?
As to the second, well, that says it all. Any government using the Bible as its supreme document for governance is a theocracy for all practical purposes — something our founding fathers struggled to avoid. But, a theocracy is precisely what Ms. Fields wants.
BTW, amendments were offered to fix this problem BEFORE the amendment appeared on the 2004 ballot. Republicans defeated the amendments as unnecessary. Now, if this were a business, I'd be severely questioning the decisions of managers that have caused such consternation amongst a majority of the customers. But, perhaps that was the plan all along….
Filed under Politics, Religion, Uncategorized
Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that the major provider of medical malpractice insurance is bragging about SLOWING the rate of increase for malpractice insurance — and MAG attributes this to the success of tort reform.
The Business Chronicle does not ask the question found in this post's title. Remember, MAG put a letter on every legislator's desk right before the vote on tort reform in 2003 promising a ten percent cut. It hasn't happened, has it?
Filed under Health, legislation, Uncategorized
Article in Massachusetts on cutting state gas taxes has a couple of factoids of interest in Georgia:
According to GasBuddy Organization Inc., which tracks retail gasoline prices, the average price in Georgia went from $3.15 a gallon for regular unleaded on Sept. 1, to about $2.56 on Sept. 20.
However, that coincided with a similar drop in neighboring Florida, where over the same time period, the price dropped from $3.01 to $2.68.
It is also important to remember that prior to Katrina, gas in Georgia was normally 10 cents cheaper than Florida, and generally cheaper than any neighboring state. But, is has not been as cheap since.
Filed under Government, Uncategorized
News story on Warner Brothers decision to use BitTorrent to distribute movies causes me to recall a discussion among CIO's in state government when a policy was proposed to block all peer-to-peer applications as such calls "served no legitimate purposes." I was given a very skeptical look when I protested on behalf of education…
Now, imagine the work that will have to be done to "unblock" these legitimate services.
Filed under Policy, Uncategorized
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