Online story: "Tiger Woods' latest offense? Spitting. * The golfer was on the 12th green of the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday when he spit on the green, prompting Sky Sports commentator Ewen Murray to remark, "Somebody now has to come behind him and maybe putt over his spit. It does not get much lower than that." * Now Reuters reports that tournament officials have decided to fine Woods an undisclosed amount for "a breach of the tour code of conduct." -- How much further can the media lower Tiger? Media used to portray him a capable of walking on water, now it shows a video clip of him spitting as he lines up a bogey putt, but cuts the clip off before he actually putts..
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Online headline: "Mysterious New Planet Discovered?" -- Oops, my bad. Thought maybe someone had discovered where DUMB&DUMBERat politicians came from 'cause they sure are alien to what's good for America and Earth.
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Online headline: "Five Programs Obama Wants to Terminate" -- Ooops, my bad, again. Thought Emporer Obama found a way to defund the Speaker of the House, keep actual taxpayers from registering to vote, make 'red states' Electoral Votes worth only half a vote, end support of the 22nd Amendment, and Rush Limbaugh's radio show.
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There's a "list" for about anything, but the 'list' for the 10 neighborhoods most likely to have a car stolen is quite revealing. 4 are in California, and 3 are in Las Vegas, Nevada. Guess it's true that a lot of people arrive in Las Vegas in $100K vehicles and either can only afford a bus ticket back home or can't even afford that.
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L-E online headline/story: "North Columbus Branch of the Columbus Library to close for renovations * “The building is more than 20 years old, and, besides the normal wear and tear, it is just time to make some changes. People don’t use a library the same way they did 20 years ago.” -- Typical 'government' reasoning...out of synch with common sense. I have one vehicle that is 25 years old, another that is 18 years old that function quite well in today's world of transportation as I have maintained and upgraded them as technology made sense. I'm almost surprised that the Library Board hasn't deemed the 20 year building as obsolete and needing full replacement. The voters need to put their feet down on giving the MCSD most SLOST funds to replace buildings that should have been maintained. What would Europe look like if a board let 300-500 year old building fall into such disrepair and wanted to replace them with an Action Building? Ooops, Action Buildings has a spot on our school board...
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L-E print headline: "North Columbus library branch to close in spring for renovations " -- Wouldn't it make common sense to close the library once school closes in May rather than while school is in session? Of course it does, but we're still talking about government's lack of such.
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From a fellow BCer - though info is a month old (and probably worse), it is eye-opening:
Two years ago today, Barack Obama was inaugurated as president of the United States . Are you better off today than you were two years ago? Numbers don't lie, and here are the data on the impact he has had on the lives of Americans:

January 2009 TODAY % chg
Source

Avg. retail price/gallon gas in U.S. $1.83 $3.104 69.6%
1
Crude oil, European Brent (barrel) $43.48 $99.02 127.7%
2
Crude oil, West TX Inter. (barrel) $38.74 $91.38 135.9%
2
Gold: London (per troy oz.) $853.25 $1,369.50 60.5%
2
Corn, No.2 yellow, Central IL $3.56 $6.33 78.1%
2
Soybeans, No. 1 yellow, IL $9.66 $13.75 42.3%
2
Sugar, cane, raw, world, lb. fob $13.37 $35.39 164.7%
2
Unemployment rate, non-farm, overall 7.6% 9.4% 23.7%
3
Unemployment rate, blacks 12.6% 15.8% 25.4%
3
Number of unemployed 11,616,000 14,485,000 24.7%
3
Number of fed. employees, ex. military (curr = 12/10 prelim) 2,779,000 2,840,000 2.2%
3
Real median household income (2008 v 2009) $50,112 $49,777 -0.7%
4
Number of food stamp recipients (curr = 10/10) 31,983,716 43,200,878 35.1%
5
Number of unemployment benefit recipients (curr = 12/10) 7,526,598 9,193,838 22.2%
6
Number of long-term unemployed 2,600,000 6,400,000 146.2%
3
Poverty rate, individuals (2008 v 2009) 13.2% 14.3% 8.3%
4
People in poverty in U.S. (2008 v 2009) 39,800,000 43,600,000 9.5%
4
U.S. rank in Economic Freedom World Rankings 5 9 n/a
10
Present Situation Index (curr = 12/10) 29.9 23.5 -21.4%
11
Failed banks (curr = 2010 + 2011 to date) 140 164 17.1%
12
U.S. dollar versus Japanese yen exchange rate 89.76 82.03 -8.6%
2
U.S. money supply, M1, in billions (curr = 12/10 prelim) 1,575.1 1,865.7 18.4%
13
U.S. money supply, M2, in billions (curr = 12/10 prelim) 8,310.9 8,852.3 6.5%
13
National debt, in trillions $10.627 $14.052 32.2%
14


Just take this last item: In the last two years we have accumulated national debt at a rate more than 27 times as fast as during the rest of our entire nation's history. Over 27 times as fast! Metaphorically, speaking, if you are driving in the right lane doing 65 MPH and a car rockets past you in the left lane 27 times faster . . . it would be doing 1,755 MPH! This is a disaster!
Sources:
(1) U.S. Energy Information Administration; (2) Wall Street Journal; (3) Bureau of Labor Statistics; (4) Census Bureau; (5) USDA; (6) U.S. Dept. of Labor; (7) FHFA; (8) Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller; (9) RealtyTrac; (10) Heritage Foundation and WSJ; (11) The Conference Board; (12) FDIC; (13) Federal Reserve; (14) U.S. Treasury

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From a newsletter of Richard Smith that's important to all of us to be aware of:
IMMIGRATION (HB87)

a- General Conclusions:
With every great privilege, comes an inherent responsibility to abide by the laws that protect that privilege.
The Pew Hispanic Center recently determined that Georgia's immigration population ranks 7th in the nation
That same study estimates an illegal immigration population that nears 425,000, or a city population second only to Atlanta

As our local and state budgets become smaller and smaller, a greater scrutiny has to be given to those who receive services from those budgets.
From 2000-2009, Georgia's illegal population grew by 115%, the fastest of any state.

The fiscal burdens created by illegal immigrants directly impact the cornerstone services Georgia provides its citizens and the level at which they are provided, the Federation for American Immigration Reform estimate that burden to be $2.4 Billion per year. The services illegal immigration impacts:
Education
Healthcare
Law Enforcement / Corrections

Georgia's unemployment rate is at historic levels and it is our job as legislators to protect job opportunities for Georgia's legal citizens.
This legislation is necessary to address Georgia's serious social and economical problems caused by the federal government's failure to secure our border.
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L-E editorial on above subject: "There were an estimated 325,000 illegal immigrants in Georgia last year, or roughly 7 percent of the state work force. To send them all packing, according to a Houston-based business think tank, would cost the state more than $21 billion in economic activity — and that was a 2008 estimate. That number surely hasn’t gotten smaller." -- Yeah, estimates now hover at closer to 425,000, but looking at the L-E argument about the impact on economic activity, wouldn't it be better if that impact was performed by Americans with real SS numbers, and who are registered taxpayers?
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L-E story: "DETROIT — General Motors said it expects to pay its 45,000 U.S. hourly workers more than $4,000 each as a share of the company’s first annual profit since 2004. * The average payout more than doubles the $1,775 record amount GM distributed after 1999." -- You know, all Government Motors 'bonuses' should be curtailed and any profits that could/can be set aside for such "bonuses' should be used to buy back the government's stock shares.
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