Online headline/story: "Report: Wal-Mart hushed up bribe network in Mexico * NEW YORK -Wal-Mart Stores Inc. hushed up a vast bribery campaign that top executives of its Mexican subsidiary carried out to build stores across that country, according to a published report. * The newspaper said that only after learning of its investigation did Wal-Mart inform the U.S. Justice Department in December 2011 that it had begun an internal investigation into possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Under that law, it is illegal for U.S. corporations and their subsidiaries to bribe foreign officials." -- "Under that law (the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.), it is illegal for U.S. corporations and their subsidiaries to bribe foreign officials."??? We have a law that keeps legitimate private businesses from using their 'smarts' to get business rolling in foreign companies, yet our government has programs that ship guns to foreign drug lords, and our foreign aid policy, which bribes foreign governments to allow CIA to have access to their countries is "OK"? We have a warped Department of Justice! --- Online story: "What's the best way to cure what ails the U.S. Postal Service? * If you ask the postmaster general, saving the Post Office will require shutting down about one out of every three post offices currently in operation, laying off tens of thousands of postal workers, and ending Saturday mail delivery once and for all. * Ask the actual USPS workers, though, and they say one simple move can solve all the Postal Service's problems: Raise the price of a stamp to something approaching what customers pay in other countries." -- What's with this desire to want to arbitrarily raise the cost of a product here to a level of foreign countries...this is AMERICA? Why do potUS Arpege's and the unions' think you can raise gasoline to $8.00 or $9.00 a gallon, and postage prices to cover up the waste and inefficiencies of monopolistic oligarchies, and still have America lead the world? Hurry, November, before potUS Arpege has time to buy enough voters to get him and Congressional DIM&DUMBERats re-elected! --- potUS Arpege is out 'wooing' college students' votes with higher cost tuition and special student loan rates... This just shows how inadequately the average college student is when he/she enters college. Most college students don't have enough (at least not proper) business math experience before the US Government allows them, at 18 years old, to sign contracts without the knowledge of the impact of what they will owe to pay it back. As it is, outstanding college loans have topped a TRILLION dollars (which is more than all US credit card debt). --- Two currently running ads really offend me. Chantix claims it can help you to quit smoking, but states side effects that range from severe to bazaar, and we all know that you quit smoking by just saying 'no' to the bad habit of putting a cigarette to your mouth and lighting it. No drug is going to make changing a personal choice (well, arsenic will, but that's a different story) easy. The other offensive ad is "Christian Mingle", an online match/meeting service where you can find "God's choice" for you. Anyone claiming to 'know' what God's plan for me or you during our Earthly life is at best a false prophet. --- Online headline: "Experts Say Zimmerman Lawyer Made Smart Move" -- Hmmm, just an everyday occurrence of "the truth will set you free". The picture of Zimmerman's bloodied head have been out there from Day 1, yet the media has run inflammatory story after inflammatory story, shown low resolution videos taken after Zimmerman's wounds had been treated/cleaned by medical technicians, and pushed a racial tone to the event to keep the flames of hatred blazing hot. Even our local media has been guilty of such incendiary reporting. Why has media forgotten that the truth is more important than being the first to report something? --- Whether we get term limits or not; whether we send new faces to Washington or not; neither of these actions will make much difference in the long term, unless we elect people who will fight to change how Congress works. The first step will be to eliminate the ability, the practice of attaching non-related bills/riders to other bills. --- L-E headline/story/picture: "Spokesman: Bee Gee Robin Gibb wakes from coma * Robin Gibb's spokesman says the Bee Gees star has woken from a coma and is showing signs of recovery.

-- Excuse me, but this looks more like a mortician's cometologist's make-over than a real live person. --- A comment about Karl Douglass's column in today's L-E: I, too, was a Marvin Crumbs fan when he tripped himself up. Dr. Crumbs was at CHS in a different capacity when 2 of my children attend there, and interactions with him were always handled in a compassionate and 'what's best' manner. As 'stupid' (since that has become the acceptable standard of the situation) as his showing the Ron White video was, it has been Dr Crumbs lack of professionalisn since that has weakened my personal support of him. That photo of him wearing jeans and an untucked in knit shirt going to address the students was a more stupid action than the one that brought attention to himself. A proper apology to the staff, to the students, to the School Administration/Board, and to Columbus, in suitable attire, was called for, no,demanded of him. This was a moment he could have regained his needed sense of professionalism. Now, who's 'stupid'? Karl Douglass...I've known him since his Little League years..(his dad, too) and he's got potential as a column writer, but under the circumstances that he's also the paid Campaign Consultant for Sanford Bishop, is it proper for the L-E to publish his thoughts when the L-E quashed John House's column because House is running against Bishop. At a minimum, the L-E should make note of the Douglass-Bishop Connection. --- L-E story: "Grayhawk Homes of Columbus has been awarded the Top Efficiency Builder Award of 2011 from Georgia Power. An event was held at The Chattahoochee River Club on April 11 to honor Dave Erickson and the Grayhawk Homes Team. During the event, Paul Bruner of Georgia Power spoke about the importance of the building industry in local communities and the benefits of building energy efficient homes" -- It is a conspiracy! GA Power spends oodles of money it can tell the PSC are necessary expenses, pushing "energy efficiency" which allows GA Power to complain to the PSC that people are using less energy so that the PSC will let GA Power raise its rates to compensate. Personally, I'd like to see the PSC to tell GA Power to work on its internal efficiencies to cut costs so rate increase won't be necessary. --- L-E headline: "Comedian Ron White changes standup for RiverCenter show to focus on Columbus High principal's reassignment" -- No doubt! What else would a comedian do to take advantage of the perfect example demonstrating 'stupidiy' ? --- Amazingly stupid L-E "soudoff": "Let’s remember our priorities - Public education’s primary goal should be teaching self-esteem and acceptance of diversity and homosexuality. Math/science is secondary. Parents who want to bore students with math and science should do it on their own time." -- In a week of such demonstrated stupidity in the MCSD, could anything sum it up better that this? The thoughts of who could dream up this drivel run amok... a teacher, a defrocked principal, a liberal journalist, or just a liberal in general... Of course some parents got an early jump on such stupidity... they decided to 'home school' their children or send them to private schools. --- While Chitwood's columns are seldom worthy of readership, today's is an exception. Not because it's funny, but because it demonstrates what our children are learning in public schools, and it's scary.... --- From Council's Agenda as posted in the L-E:L "CLERK OF COUNCIL’S AGENDA * Letter from Deputy Clerk of Council forwarding the Charter Review Commission’s amended recommendation to remove the $500 user fee from the November 2012 ballot." -- This is the worst case of 'backroom politics' that has exposed itself to the light in a long time. Let the citizens of Columbus decide this issue!