From the "how come" department -  Online story: "Malala Yousafzai is not your ordinary kid. Not only is she the youngest person to ever win a Nobel Peace Prize, but she's also the author of a NY Times Bestseller and jets off around the world to advocate for women's education. Somehow during all of this, she still managed to get straight-A's this year!" -- How come a teenaged girl stood up.. still stands up.. to the Taliiban and Obamageddon draws lines in the sand.. Oh, and how come she releases her grades and Obamageddon hasn't?

 

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HuffPOOPOO headline: "Plant isn't just lethal, it's also highly intelligent" -- Oooops my bad.. thought this was about Nancy Pelosi...

 

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When you think about it, the politicians who deliver their words from their hearts are a lot more honest. Politicians who read their speech off a TelePromptor are repeating the words someone else has carefully picked out for the audience.  The difference is one of talking with the audience or talking at it.

 

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Can you believe that Lindsey Graham actually said he would rather have a Democrat in the White House than Donald Trump? Graham is not a conservative nor even a RINO..he's a RINASS... From now on, if I mention Graham, it will be as Graham Cracker..

 

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Remember those unarmed American Marines who disarmed a jihadist on that French train? Wanna bet whether Obamageddon has them arrested for initiating an action before the terrorist actually fired his gun at them?

 

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Online headline: "Officials say French train gunman may be suspected Islamic jihadist" -- May?

 

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The NFL is going to abandon.. for this year's rendition... the use of Roman Numerals to designate the SuperBowl.. This year it will be referenced to as "SuperBowl 50"... Usually, the NFL would have used the Roman Numeral "L",  but thinks the '"L" might be referred to as "Loser".  Well, what about the next two SuperBowls when the NFL goes back to the Roman Numerals... perhaps "LI" and "LII" whih will quickly be referred to as "One Loser" and "Loser, Too".

 

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Online story: "The Veterans Entrepreneurial Transition (VET) Act of 2015 would give some veterans access to money in the GI Bill – funding traditionally used for tuition -- as seed money for their new businesses. The legislation has passed committee and is working its way to the Senate floor. *  The VET Act does have opponents, including Veterans of Foreign Wars." -- I have to agree with the VFW... a specific educational fund needs to stay as such.. there's nothing wrong with setting up a "small business" option, but it needs to be set up separately,, say under the Small Business Administration which is better equipped to advise Vet.

 

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There's a good example to support setting up a separate administration for assisting Vets in either education or a business venture.. Take the GA Lottery.. look at the campaign promises made to keep the lottery proceeds "on task" to provide quality college education for GA high school grads. After the early years, when the newness of the lottery generated more than was necessary, it didn't take long for the legislature to add another way to spend those funds... towards pre-K daycare/babysitting businesses... and adding teachers for remedial college classrooms because school systems had become diploma mills with a goal to get every student possible on a Hope Scholarship.. Now, with lottery interest waning, the revenues have been affected by inflation and too many dollars being directed towards other programs other than rewarding achieving students a chance at a college education.

 

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Have you seen those "safety hats" being worn by a MLB pitcher to be better prepared against line drives? It looks like  a hat manufacturer for Barry Bond's hats has found a use for his left over supply ..load a few inches of padding into them so they will fit people who haven't loaded up on steroids.

 

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L-E story: " The long-running Whittlesey Road widening project may not be completed by October, but the four lanes will be open to traffic by then. *  The construction project began in fall 2012 and was estimated to take about 2 ½ years to complete. The original price tag was $8.95 million, with $7.17 coming from the federal government and $1.78 from the state.    In late 2014, the project was running about six months behind because of unforeseen drainage problems, some additional median cut-throughs and foot-dragging by utilities that needed to be moved. Those issues hiked the price tag up to $9.8 million. *  As that project is winding down, another, larger DOT project is about a quarter of the way completed up the road from Whittlesey on Veterans Parkway, Wellborn said. That is the $18.5 million road widening project on Veterans from Moon Road, past North-side High School, to Hancock Road. *  That 1.5-mile project, which is being done by .... the same contractor handling the Whittlesey project (and) is slated to be completed in summer 2017, about three years after it began, Wellborn said." -- Could there be a flaw in the DOT bid/job sustem? Having overlapping projects being handled by the same contractor may be the problem.. and may explain the delays as many days, it seemed as if no one was working on the Whittlesey RD project. Perhaps the DOT should limit time-competing projects by the same contractor in the same area until the first project is completed.. the public has no idea that it is getting it's money's worth on the revisions and cost overrun of the Whittlesey RD  Project, and just how did "anything unexpected" occur with as much time that was spent in doing the planning and early site preparation?

 

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You know.. Council should provide info on how much revenue is generated by the users at  our activity specific recreational/entertainment venues.  Tax payers have funded the construction and provide site management of rental facilities such as the Civic Center, the separate Ice Rink, Bull Creek and Oxbow Meadows golf courses, the Aquacenter, The Trade and Convention Center which all have fees to use, but they all need supplementary financial aid to keep the doors open. Perhaps the public should see the actual fees received for those who actually use them, and a proposal to raise the usage fees to pay for the shortages.

 

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Jonathan Gruber extra-stupid LIV's wishful "feeling" L-E "soundoff": " There is no way Hillary can lose. Women, Hispanics and African Americans will vote for her. And that is that. Don’t waste your time, just get over it and move on." -- This must have been sent in by either Porkchop HILL or our local "empty chair" of the Muscogee Democrat Party... even Chris Mathews doesn't feel Porkchop HiILL's tingle down his leg..

 

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A Columbus Ledger-Enquirer story credits Julian Bond with founding the Southern Poverty Law Center.. while he was named as the first president of the SPLC, it was founded by Morris Dees and Joe Levin.. Doesn't the L-E do any fact checking?

 

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You know.. Habitat for Humanity here in Columbus was founded to clean up struggling neighborhoods  and make them more esthetically pleasing with new housing.. Recently, the organization moved its "Restore" facility to a location on River Road just north of Veterans.. Currently, it has either all of or the excess inventory of its bathroom fixtures lined up outside on its lawn. You know, yard art is one thing, but dozens of toilets decorating one's yard is an eyesore.

 

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 Now that "herstory" has been made in the ranks of the Rangers, let the women get on with their jobs. They did not persevere to be distracted from their goals.

 

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From the City Council Agenda:

1- Second readings — An ordinance amending the “Official Street Map, City of Columbus, Georgia,” by changing the official street name for the section of public roadway currently designated as Gunboat Drive to Chastain Drive, to be one street name consistent with the length of roadway; authorizing the replacement of existing street name signs labeled as Gunboat Drive to Chastain Drive. (District 5 Councilor Mike Baker)" -- Again, Google obviously has made a mistake.. there is no inconsistency of names on a street named Chastain/Gunboat.. Gunboat Drive is the designated name of a road between Milgen and Old Towne , and there is a business referred to as Chastain Properties, but unless Council uses a different map, there is no road segment named Chastain. Save the money, Council.

 

2- " CONDEMNATION ON PARCELS 19 AND 20 -— WYNNTON ROAD MASTER PLAN — PHASE 1: Approval is requested for the acquisition of parcel 19 and 20, 2435 Wynnton Road for the Wynnton Road Master Plan * Phase I, from Cedar Avenue to Hilton Avenue/13th Street for a temporary easement for county road and/or municipal street purposes and authorize the filing of a Declaration of Taking. This project is funded 80 percent by the Georgia Department of Transportation and 20 percent by Midtown Incorporation. The city will be responsible for service and upkeep after completion of the project." -- Wait a minute.. these are ongoing business sites and are being taken over by a private concern which Mayor TomLYINGson was the former Executive Director, and by using our tax dollars.. not only that, it will cost jobs and eliminate tax revenues that come in from those properties.. Now, if any property in that area needs some "taking over" it's the old "Hilton" homesite  that burned down years ago across from the business site cited.

 

 

3- JOHN DEERE 5055E UTILITY TRACTORS — GEORGIA STATE CONTRACT: It is requested that council authorize the purchase of two John Deere 5055E Utility Tractors with attachments, from Deere & Company (Cary, N.C.), at a unit price of $21,714.37, for a total amount of $43,428.74, by cooperative purchase, via Georgia state contract. This equipment will be used by the staff of the Right of Way Maintenance division to assist with cutting the right of ways." -- Do we really need two more tractors? Why not use the ones that look brand new that sit for days without use on the J.R. Allen Parkway intersection properties..