Online headline: "John McCain: Robert Gates Should Have Waited Before Releasing Bombshell Memoir" -- What the heck does McCain know.. for that matter, what gives him the right to take leadership? If McCain had taken the bull by the horns in Sept/Oct before the 2008 election, he just might have been elected.. well, to a one term presidency. In a way, we do need to be thankful that McCain didn't win... he would have damaged the Republican Party beyond being able to be salvaged.

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You know,, I'll bet Hillary wishes McCain had won in 2008... She'd never been associated with Benghazi, and would probably be our sitting president after the mainstream media raked McCain over Benghazi's coals.

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Online headline: "OJ Simpson To File Another Appeal" -- Good luck with that... Would someone please tell OJ that after all the dust settled , he no longer has "appeal" to anyone but lawyers who v=can still drain a few bucks out of him

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Online headline: "Supreme Court Weighing Presidential Power" -- Hmmm, I could save us a lot of time and dollars.. Judas OO-bama, you have been weighed, and found wanting.

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Personal responsibility... that's the key element missing from public education. Children get promoted/graduated, even sent off to college, without being qualified to do so. Teachers gain permanent job status by length of service, not the quality of it, and can retire before their best working years.

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Soapbox time: A list of 43 ways to save money has been published and sent to the Mayor & Council. It's great employees/employee groups are thinking about ways to stop wasting tax dollars, but there's one that is absolutely baffling as to why it's even considered... cutting garbage pick-up to once a week. Mayor Obamalinson has always targeted such with the reason being that it will save $250,000.00 annually. How does that save money when that could be covered by a $6.00 PER YEAR fee addition to the current garbage fees we already pay. What value would citizens get if we only got garbage picked up once a week? There'd be no less garbage needing to be picked up? There'd be no less garbage needed to be sent to the landfill? There'd be less maintenance time to keep the trucks in good condition meaning more expense for repairs and shorter lifespan for the garbage trucks. In addition, garbage would sit around residences for a full week (heaven forbid not getting your garbage out to the street and having to keep spoiled fish or shrimp out an extra week, particularly in the summer months). Where is it that citizens would be better off eliminating $6.00 a year in services?

If Council is really wanting to save money, how about starting with eliminating any program that is partially fueled by federal/state grant moneys... none of these programs are fully funded, and many lose federal "donations/investments" after a few (mostly one) years, so the citizens are stuck with funding the overcosts for something that never would have been initiated had Council had to find/disburse local tax dollars from the git-go. Another way to save money would be for users of City services pay the full amount of the costs of such services. Let's start with mostly empty bus transportation ,and recreation. Sure, frills like the natatorium or after school P&R 'daycare' sound nice, but not when those programs are not supported by user fees that are adequate. If Council or the employees are interested in creating a savings list. start with real savings. Oh! One more thing.. renegotiate the Whitewater fee structure! "We" have already paid for repairs to the banks of the Chattahoochee that have been damaged by construction changes to the river's water flow so that the City will not get positive revenue flow from users for the next 60 years or so, double..triple, even quadruple such fee arrangements. Like Council has proclaimed that "if we build it, they will come" (hmmm sounds like a Costner movie sequel), let those who come pay for it!

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There, I'm through for today... at least on the above subject, but I just saw the next headline about the Homeless Project, and am wondering how does joining a national movement help locally? My first thoughts are that some local funds will be redirected to an out-of-city, out-of-state organization to pay other peoples' salaries for conducting surveys and making blanket recommendations.

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Speaking of the "End Homeless in 10 Years" project.. we're into the 3rd year... have 25% of the 'homeless" been helped out of that condition?

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L-E story: " Iran has agreed to limit uranium enrichment and to open its nuclear program to daily inspection by international experts starting Jan. 20, setting the clock running on a six-month deadline for a final nuclear agreement, officials said Sunday. * In exchange, the Islamic Republic will get a relaxation of the financial sanctions that have been crippling its economy." -- Hmmm, sounds like "the world" has thrown Br'er Hassan Rouhani into "the briar patch" .... I'd recognize his laugh from anywhere.

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L-E headline/story: "MUSCOGEE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT * BOARD TO DISCUSS HIRING ATHLETICS DIRECTOR * The last person to hold the position was Gary Gibson, who left the district to become superintendent of schools in Taylor County, replacing Wayne Smith who retired Dec. 31, 2013.
* Gibson was also chief administrative assistant to the superintendent here." -- Hmmm, the last person to hold the job was also the chief administrative assistant to the superintendent? With that kind of in-house knowledge, why wasn't this person promoted to or offered the superintendent's job here?

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L-E story: "ATLANTA — The unofficial start to the 2014 legislative session known as the Wild Hog Supper featured the same group of Georgia politicians and lobbyists, but a different tone after the event was overhauled this year to be more transparent and benefit the needy." -- Hmmm, just curious as to why Council has paid a contractor to capture, kill, destroy wild hogs when the hogs could have been turned over to an event for raising money and awareness for charity....