Is Georgia about to execute an innocent man?

From Moni Basu of the AJC..............

"She never spoke openly about the murder of Savannah police Officer Mark
Allen MacPhail. Not with her friends, not with her family. Only years later did
she tell a cousin, who nudged her to "do the right thing" and step
forward.


Seven of nine key witnesses who implicated Davis in MacPhail's
murder have recanted their testimony since the 1991 trial. Others, like Johnson, later made sworn statements that shifted the blame away from
Davis.


Some say they lied initially or withheld vital information. They were
young then, as fearful of the police as they were of neighborhood thugs. Some
were in trouble with the law and say they acted out of
self-preservation.


Johnson is still scared of retaliation from the man she thinks really
killed MacPhail. But over time, she felt the risks were worth taking, especially
after her cousin promised to protect her."

-----------------------------

If you were responsible for someone going to prison and being sentenced to death, would you change your story and try and help the convicted if it wasn't the right thing to do?

Hopefully Gov. Perdue will do the right thing and stay the execution of Troy Anthony Davis set for Tuesday night. Because it sure sounds like the people of the state of Georgia are about to commit murder.

Take a moment to think about it, and consider helping Rep. Hank Johnson and Rep. John Lewis to see that justice is done for Troy.

Tuesday is the day.

Check your Chinese-made tires

The list of tainted and defective goods imported from China grows. Seems like there's something new every week. This week it's tires.

"Although Hangzhou Zhongce disputed the assertion its products
were defective, the case broadened an ongoing controversy over Chinese imports in the United States. Recent cases include the widely publicized problem with pet food ingredients as well as recalls of toy trains and toothpaste.

"China has been asleep at the switch when it comes to safety inspections," Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat,
said.

Unfortunately, it's not just tires, toy trains, and toothpste. It's also pet food, fish, and cosmetics. Now there's some rumblings about honey imported from China.

All these goods used to be readily made in the good ole USA. The production of such goods provided decent playing jobs and benefits for thousands of American workers. But now we've outsourced those jobs at the insistence of corporations.

I'm all for businesses running as lean as possible. But not at the expense of American jobs and American families. And certainly not at the expense of the safety of ourselves and more imporantly our loved ones.

Why isn't this getting more attention? Probably because China owns most of our national debt.

AJC's David McNaughton: "China is poisoning trade with the United States"

Such is the opening line of his op ed on the recent rash of unsafe food and goods made in China appearing on U.S. store shelves. Fish, toys, cosmetics, pet food...............what's going to be next?

McNaughton heeps scorn on the inability or unwillingness of Chinese officials to guarantee the safety of their products:

"No country has an unblemished record on food and consumer
product safety.China's manufacturers are more careless,
callous or unethical than other trading partners.

Poisonous diethylene glycol, which was detected in toothpaste
made in China, has been used more than once as a cheap substitute for a safe medical ingredient. Mislabeled diethylene glycol produced in China killed dozens of children in Haiti 10 years ago and more than 100 people in Panama in 2006.

This year, every one of the 24 kinds of toys ordered recalled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission were made in China, The
New York Times reported last week. The FDA rejects food imports from China at 25 times the rate it turns back products from Canada, according to The Washington
Post."

Look and think before you buy.

What Has "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Done for Our Country?

Christopher highlights a youtube video pointing out a few statistics and the possible rammifications of Hillary's husband's gift to gays, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Please sign the petition.

The Vatican's Ten Commandments of Driving: Does this apply to Atlanta?

This news item out of the Vatican caught my eye. Considering that the metro Atlanta area is one of the worst places on Earth to drive, I thought I'd share it.

Here is the Vatican's "Drivers' Ten Commandments." How does it apply to your home town?

1. You shall not kill. (I've seen this one before, on Easter no less.)

2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.
(Ain't much communion or fellowship going on down on I-285, but plenty of harm.)

3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events. (It will also get you flipped off by the person behind you.)

4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents. (We do have a Good Samaritan law don't we?)

5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin. (Please, the power of a man's engine and his willingness to use it can make up for a receding hairline, protruding belly, or lack of penis size.)

6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so. (You mean like when they're 16?)

7. Support the families of accident victims. (Does this have anything to do with insurance premiums?)

8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness. (It's called small claims court. I don't recommend the experience.)

9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party. (I did this once for a lady with a flat as she was trying to get over to the right shoulder. She almost 911'd me.)

10. Feel responsible toward others. (I don't feel the love around 8am and 5pm.)



I didn't notice anything in there about affixing makeup, cell phones, tailgating, reading the paper while driving, or travelling in the left lane. To much of metro Atlanta's relief, that must mean it's okay. Uh huh, you know who you are................

What is it with China and our consumer goods?

First it was pet food. Now you need to be careful about your toothpaste. Toothpaste made in China contains DEG (antifreeze). Chinese officials don't seem to be worried about it as they claim that DEG is in a lot of the goods that their own citizens consume. Isn't it comforting to know that so many of our consumer goods are made in a country where the government cares so little about the health and well being of their own citizens?

There's even some concern about fish imported from China's sewage-contaminated aquafarms and lead quantities found in makeup and even toys made in China. What's up with this? Is anything safe anymore?

When I read about news like this, the first thing that comes to my mind is how Wal-Mart has pushed so many formerly American-made products into the hands of the Chinese who are obviously having problems with quality control. Hey, anything to get the lowest price for Wal-Mart's customers................

Don't look for any Republicans to make too big of a fuss with the Chinese. That might make Wal-Mart mad. And we all know why Republicans don't want to make Wal-Mart mad.

Don't get me wrong. The fact that many a monied Chinese citizen paid for a night in the Lincoln bedroom during the Clinton administration isn't lost on me. In fact, I agree with Dave Sirota in his opinion that too many Democrats have been just as complicit as the Republicans in selling out our own workers and consumers to the Chinese.

So who's looking out for us?

Given our own problems in this country with recalls on items like peanut butter and spinach, the FDA seems to be short on manpower and resources necessary to effectively judge what Americans are consuming both here and abroad. That is, until people and animals start getting sick and dying.

Bush Comparison of Iraq to South Korea Called "Ignorant"

In this morning's AJC, there is an op ed by Dr. Han S. Park, who is director of the Center for the Study of Global Issues at the University of Georgia. Dr. Park is recognized as an expert on Korean and Asian geopolitical issues. And he's often consulted and featured in programming by the History Channel, Discovery, numerous educational and political forums, as well as articles in various print media in his area of expertise.

As President Bush flails around trying to convince anyone that will listen that we need to continue a prolonged military presence in Iraq, Dr. Park takes exception with his latest attempt at justifying his policies by comparing the situation to America's military presence in South Korea.

Dr. Park leaves no doubt as to how he feels about the latest Bush excuse:

This idea once again shows the desperation and recklessness of
the Bush administration, as well as its deplorable ignorance of political and historical reality. The differences between the two cases are so drastic that analogizing Iraq with Korea is absurd and untenable.

and:

Our involvement in Korea was directly tied to an unambiguous
security interest for the United States, and indeed for the rest of the free world, in containing the expansion of the Soviet bloc. With Saddam Hussein long out of power, and with the administration sensibly ruling out the notion of a religious war against Islam, we are still left with tough questions regarding what we are fighting for, and for whom. Iraqi freedom? Or our own oil interests? Are the oil fields the "front line" we are defending?

and further:

Even in South Korea, after three long years of massive
destruction, great loss of American and Korean lives and our protracted stationing of troops for more than 50 years, we still do not have peace, let alone a victory. Since the armistice agreement (in actuality only a temporary cease-fire) in 1953, U.S. troops on the order of 30,000-35,000 soldiers have remained and will continue to remain in South Korea for an indefinite period of time. Thus, applying the South Korean model simply implies that our troops will stay in Iraq for decades, rather than years.

Dr. Park asks some great questions about why we're still in Iraq, a nation that we broke and now must help fix, as former Sec. of State Colin Powell once warned Bush before invading. But they are questions that are usually deflected by the Bush administration and the relatively few hardline Republicans still supporting them. The nation, our military personnel and their families, as well as the Iraqis themselves deserve an answer to those questions. Instead, we're usually force fed another heaping helping of apple pie (one would figure the "mission accomplished" debacle would've sufficed) and some drivel about "fighting them over there instead of fighting them here" (see open border, Ft. Dix, JFK, and terrorist camps in South America).

Bush's "ignorant" comparison of Iraq and South Korea smacks of a president desperate to excuse his policy decisions. They seem to do more for the interests of an industry that he, his family, and his friends like Prince Bandar (Bush) bin Sultan have well documented ties to than for the nation that he has the priviledge of leading.

Remember in 2008, America deserves better than this.

Dogfighting? What's the problem?

I haven't blogged on the open investigation into Falcons' QB Michael Vick's possible involvement in dogfighting. Even though it sounds bad, I thought I'd wait to see if any charges would be filed against Vick first and go from there. But Washington Redskins RB Clinton Portis and Tackle Chris Samuels changed that.

As I was driving home from the NCAA tennis championships in Athens last night, I heard a clip of an interview that Portis and Samuels gave to a Norfolk, VA television station yesterday. When asked about the Vick investigation, Portis said if Vick were convicted of dogfighting and went to jail, that Vick would be "put behind bars for no reason."

According to this MSNBC report, he went on to say:

“I don’t know if he was fighting dogs or not,” Portis said in
the interview. “But it’s his property; it’s his dogs. If that’s what he wants to do, do it.”

As he was speaking, fellow Redskin Chris Samuels was in the background laughing and making jokes about "Animal Planet."

The good thing for Portis is that he has agents and representatives from the Washington Redskins to come in behind him and clean up any mess that his ignorant ass happens to make in public. The Redskins issued a statement for him supposedly clarifying his feelings on dogfighting, saying that Portis doesn't "condone" dogfighting.

Yeah right. His original statement was clear enough for me.

After the clip was aired, there was an interview with an official from the national Humane Society. He estimates that there are over 20,000 animal fighters in our country alone. And there are breeders that breed dogs for dogfighting purposes and ship them to other countries.

So if something good comes out of all of this, hopefully it will be more public awareness about
animal fighting. Tougher laws need to be enacted along with tougher punishments for those that take part in animal fighting, own paraphanelia, or breed for these purposes. And it needs to be started right here in Georgia.

But the Redskins and the NFL could make a real statement of their own and get the message to Portis, Samuels, and any other idiot in their league that thinks dogfighting is funny.

Oh, and Mr. Blank, I wonder what's going through your mind, as well as the social conscience of the Atlanta Falcons organization? **Because, as it is, there are reports that scores of dogs found on Vick's property in Virginia will have to be euthanized or treated for injuries and malnutrition. The people of Atlanta and the entire country are watching to see just what you're going to do about this.

**P.S. May 26th's edition of the AJC contains an AP article quoting Prosecutor Gerald Poindexter as saying that earlier reports saying that dogs found on Vick's Virginia property were injured and malnourished are "erroneous." No charges have been filed in the case yet.

For Tennis Fans

These past few days, the University of Georgia has been hosting the men's and women's NCAA tennis championships. Athens has proven to be, by far, the most successful location for this tournament for the past 30 years. The beautiful Henry Field tennis stadium, the enthusiastic community support, the indominable Dan Magill, and UGA fans (5 to 6 thousand of them) have combined to make this one of the best and well run operations in all of collegiate athletics.

The Lady Dawgs bowed out of the quarterfinals last night to an underdog Cal Bears team that really played well. The Bears will meet Georgia Tech in the semis tommorow. Tech Coach Bryan Shelton has really built a nice program over on the Flats. They have yet to reach the heights of their Lady Dawgs counterparts. But a very nice rivalry is brewing. I like Shelton a lot and respect him a great deal. I can remember seeing him play Connors at Wimbledon in the late 80's. Tech's very lucky that this prodigal son came back to work for his alma mater.

The UGA men's team is in semifinal action right now vs. the University of Virginia. UVA is one of the few teams to have tested the Dawgs this year, as UGA went undefeated for a second regular season in a row.

For those of us who are stuck elsewhere, you can watch the matches live via the internet. Here's a link to live action going on as I type.

With the recent changes in my personal life, I have reached back into my childhood and started playing tennis again. I haven't played a match other than for fun since 1991. Work, life, and higher priorities are my excuses for only playing around 5 singles matches and maybe 15 doubles matches in the last 16 years.

That is until this April. I started playing with a very competitive guy, Chris, that has a nice game. He's also a fitness fanatic as he constantly breaks his personal records for things like most situps (3,420) in one day and miles ridden on a bike (163.5). He's actually better than I am, and definitely more fit. But I'm making some improvements in both areas.

Yesterday we played our 5th match vs. one another and I finally got a set off of him in a 3 out of 5 match. As is usual so far, I'm good for about one good set (usually the 2nd set) against him. But since its warmed up I've been tiring faster than he in the heat. I think we must have played about 2.5 hours yesterday with one long break to change courts.

We started out playing at the intramural courts on the UGA campus. But, after a set and a half, we yielded to the very polite womens coach at Vanderbilt University as our guests, who needed our court for his players to warm up. We wished him well and his players, and went to a different location.

The break must have bothered Chris, because I was able to take the momentum in our new surroundings and win the 2nd set in a tie breaker. Unforunately, I was a little too satisfied with my accomplishment and played very loose to start the 3rd. By the time I got back to playing decently, I couldn't win the big points. I led either 30-0 or 40-0 in FOUR consecutive service games only to lose all of them. And in my last gasp in the 4th set, I came back from 40-0 down on his serve to gain 3 different break point chances only to lose that game too. My goose was cooked, and so was my head in the mid day sun without a hat.

Maybe ole Steve needs to get me back into the gym and train me. And then I need my friend Jeff from Chicago to get down here and groove my strokes and help me with tactics. Because Chris, you're definitely kicking my ass! But it's been fun. Well done.

"The Assault on Reason"

Peter, from Blog for Democracy, gives us some good reasons to pick up Al Gore's new book. He needn't apologize for being a fan of Al's. I am too.

Idealists tend to get blasted these days. But Peter embraces that mantle unabashedly. As for his call for more idealists to get involved in the political process, and make it work the way it should, I wholeheartedly agree.

Here is another good write up on Al's new book.

C'mon Jimmy, don't back off now!

Former President Carter created a huge stir this weekend when he called the Bush administration "the worst in history," because of its lack of diplomacy and foreign policy blunders in the Middle East. Of course, Jimmy's known for saying what he thinks. He's been openly critical of Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II while each were in office. He's also usually on the mark, as he was this weekend.

Of course, this puts the right wing spin machine into anti-Carter mode. They've learned their lessons well from the days of the Great Masterbator who was very successful at masterbating the masses by telling them what they wanted to hear while blaming his predacessors for all of his problems. Unfortunately for them, many more Americans, unhappy with what they've seen unfold since 9/11, have caught on to their schtick.

But this morning, Carter is backing off of his statements about the Bush administration. In this day and age when we really need truthful voices, it was refreshing to hear a fellow president tell it like it is about the current president and his administration. Politeness and tradition need not stand in his way of speaking truth to the American public.

Festival of Books puts the big picture together on Iraq and Bush

Saturday afternoon I got caught up in the re-run of CSPAN's coverage of last April's L.A. Times Festival of Books. One segment included a panel of journalists and scholars, each having written books on the war in Iraq or aspects that greatly affect Iraq, came together to discuss the Bush administration's Iraq blunder, the role that corporate America plays in why we're doing what we're doing in Iraq, and our complete lack of dipomacy and lack of understanding of the Middle East. The panelists included Chris Hedges, William Langewiesche, T. Christian Miller, and Robert Scheer.

The highlights of the panel discussion included listening to Langewiesche expound on the notion that someone is indeed benefitting from what we're doing in Iraq, and its not the Iraqis, the American people, nor our soldiers who are fighting and dying for causes that have nothing to do with our national security. Langewiesche did not contain his criticism of our whoring ourselves out to corporate interests to only Bush and the Republicans. He also sent a shot accross the bow of our major Democratic candidates for 2008 as well.

I also thought Scheer's comparisons of the arguments against pulling out of Iraq to the arguments against pulling out of Vietnam in the 1970's. As he pointed out, Republicans argued that leaving Vietnam would be ceding southeast Asia to communism. Instead what happened was Vietnam and China went to war over a border dispute. Communism did not run rampant throughout the region. And, in fact, today capitalist ventures like McDonalds and Wal-Mart are doing quite well in both China AND Vietnam. As for fears that leaving now would mean that American casualties will have been inflicted in vain. As Mike Gravel says, their efforts were in vain the moment we attacked a country that represented little or no threat to us.

Scheer went on to use this analogy for our situation in Iraq. It's like a burgler who needlessly broke into someone's house and then refused to leave because of a fear that his victims can't survive without him. The Iraqis clearly want us to leave. Putting the best face possible on our forray into Iraq, if it was just to take out a tyrant like Saddam, we accomplished that. It's time for the Iraqis to have a chance to go about rebuilding their country and their lives.

But Chris Hedges was probably the most controversial, and maybe the most poignant. Having lived and worked for a long time in the Middle East, he has friends in Iraq and Iran. These friends are not government officials, and they have nothing to do with the military of either country, or any radical militia. They are simple ordinary citizens of their country, just as you and I are here. They are the ones that are caught up in the power struggle involving our governments, which sometimes do not have the best interests of the average American, Iraqi, or Iranian at heart. He says we owe these people an apology. First for invading the region in 2003 without provocation, and secondly for our failure to do anything about it by re-electing Bush in 2004.

Hedges goes on to say that he thinks that Bush should be impeached, despite his short time left in office. It's his opinion that it's the only way that the U.S. can restore its moral and legal authority as a world leader. He says that the Bush administration has broken both national and international law. And he's definitely correct in saying that we have created more enemies in this world since 2003 than we've killed or detained.

Hedges went on to renew his pledge that if we go to war with Iran, he won't pay his income taxes. Lets just hope that it won't come to that.

South Carolina is kicking our ass.............again

Atlanta environmental law attorney, Scott Hitch, has the scorecard on the souteast's race for biofuels supremecy in today's AJC:

"However, Aiken, S.C., across the Savannah River from Augusta, is a great place for a biodiesel plant. South Carolina now offers a tax credit of 20 cents to 30 cents per gallon for production of biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel), for up to 25 million gallons per year, and a five cent per gallon retail rebate. Retailers and dealers receive a tax credit for 25 percent of the cost of biofuels equipment.

These incentives have just attracted a new $1.4 million biodiesel plant from Georgia. Farmers & Truckers Biodiesel's new plant will move into a renovated kaolin warehouse across the state line, and it likely won't build a second facility it had planned for Georgia."

and.........

"There are almost 50 retail stations selling fuel containing ethanol or biodiesel in South Carolina. In Georgia there are only three."


With as much progress as Georgia has made towards being a leader in the biofuels industry, we're still not doing enough. Hitch's simple comparison of what Georgia is doing to what our neighbors are doing reveals that we have some catching up to do. Especially against South Carolina, which is now taking more than just automobile plants away from us.

Republicans like Gov. Perdue, Senator Chambliss, etc. have been showing some support, really just giving more lip service to it than anything. But that's somewhat to be expected considering that the Republican party is the party of big oil and coal.

And we surely do have some Georgia Democrats working hard towards taking advantage of our state's natural resources and byproducts from other goods to make sure that Georgia is in the fight. But what amazes me is we still have some Democrats that either don't realize that we're falling behind, or aren't enthused with the potential investment, job growth, and tax revenue that could result from putting our foot down on the pedal on this now. But then again, who could ever accuse Georgia Democrats of being visionaries?

South Carolina's beating us up and taking our lunch money. Not because they're better, but because they're thinking more progressively.

Young Harris and Cathy Cox both pick winners

Young Harris College has long been one of my favorite college campi ever since I first visited there as a child. Tucked away in the North Georgia Blue Ridge mountains on our borders with Tennessee and North Carolina, Young Harris is almost like a step back in time. With it's cute little 19th century Methodist chapel, its old but well maintained red brick and white clapboard buildings, that's a part of its charm.

But the selection of their next president is a clear commitment to continue moving Young Harris into the 21st century. Georgia's former Secretary of State, Cathy Cox, has accepted the challenge of being their next president.

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when an alumnus of the school from Dawsonville called me to give me the good news. It's a role befitting Cathy in her now post-political career. I also think that she will find this more fulfilling for herself personally than practicing law, or pondering a run for the U.S. Senate. This kind of job will help her to utilize her knowledge and expertise as an administrator and executive, as well as her fundraising abilities for good cause.

Good luck to Cathy Cox and to Young Harris College. I think you're both in good hands.

Hoops, 2008, and Life Cycle Analysis

I have been watching a little mens and women hoops in the last few weeks. UGA's Dawgs and Lady Dawgs have both seen their seasons come to an end. Overall, I would say that both had successful seasons. Georgia's men continued to improve under Coach Dennis Felton. The number of wins went up to 19 against a schedule rated in the teens in terms of strength. That's a positive step up from last season's 15 wins against a weaker schedule. Coach Felton wins and does things the right way.

Add to that fact that Georgia competed in the SEC east which sent 4 of 6 teams to the NCAA tournament. Each of the 4 teams won at least one round with 3 of them advancing to the Sweet 16. Tennessee and Vanderbilt, both, came oh so close to reaching the Great 8. Vandy got a rotten travelling no call at the end of their game that may have altered the outcome against Georgetown. But if there's any team left in the tournament capable of springing a big upset at the Final 4 in Atlanta, it might just be the Hoyas. Perhaps destiny is calling?

Coach Andy Landers' Lady Dawgs made their usual Sweet 16 appointment. His teams have made an incredible 24 of 26 NCAA tournaments, reached 17 Sweet 16's, 5 Final 4's, and 2 national title games. If there's any justice in the world, one day he's going to win the big one. At any rate, Coach Landers will be inducted into the Womens College Basketball Hall of Fame this year.

Poor Jon and Amy ended up slightly disappointed. Both of their teams went far into the tournament. But when you're a Kansas fan (Jon) or a North Carolina fan (Amy), your standards are a lot higher than most. Don't worry guys. Both of your programs are strong and in good hands. I'm sure you both will be struttin' your stuff with yet another Final 4 appearance soon.

On the 2008 Democratic Presidential front, John Edwards has decided to remain in the race despite his beloved wife's cancer returning. One of the bright spots of 2004 was being exposed to Elizabeth Edwards, a truly lovely woman both inside and out. She's passionate about her family, her husband, and her belief that her husband will do a wonderful job as America's next president. I wish her and her family a lot of strength and the best of luck in fighting that fight.

However, Katie Couric sure tried to make Edwards look bad for not dropping out of the race to concentrate solely on Elizabeth. Both Edwards went on 60 Minutes with her to explain why they are staying in the race.

Couric' tone was surprisingly judgemental considering her own experience with her late husband's cancer. Sadly, he passed away. But Katie stayed busy through that terrible time. It probably helped her. And it probably eased the mind of her husband. I know she's a big fan of Hillary. After all, Katie is one of the few journalists that Hillary turned to when she was feigning ignorance of her husband's affairs back in the 90's. Perhaps that's why Katie decided to play the hypocrite?

It's not just me that noticed this. Dave Sirota noticed too.

Meanwhile, Hillary is rolling right along. She picked up the endorsement of Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who was previously in the race, but dropped out. Tom Baxter tells us about Barrack Obama's successful trip to Georgia. And Al Gore heated up Washington last week with his testimony on global warming. Rumors of a 2008 run still persist.

Speaking of global warming, Don over at Life Cycle Analyis, has some interesting entries on both that topic and the new unrest in Kinshasa. It's good stuff, so check it out.

Rep. Brooks on the Wrong Side of Payday Loans

I'm not sure why Georgia State Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D) plans to vote for Republican Rep. Earl Ehrharts's HB 163 which would legalize payday lending in our state. According to this AJC article by Carrie Teegardin, he says its because of a past experience that his grandmother had with a local finance company. He says they ripped her off, charging her a "60 percent rate on each dollar."

I believe Rep. Brooks' story. That kind of thing is commonplace within this industry, which is why it is suspect to begin with. However, I don't believe him when he says this is his reason for supporting payday lending. It can't possibly be. Either there's another reason, or he hasn't taken the time to compare payday lending to finance company loans or car title loans. The type of lending he is backing doesn't look like a better option than the finance company loan that he says is bad for consumers like his grandmother. In fact, it might be worse.

Under the provisions of Rep. Ehrhart's bill, borrowers would be able to borrow money that typically would have to be paid back within two weeks. Teegardin's article says the cost would be "$15 per $100 borrowed at rates of anywhere from 195 percent to over 1,000 percent." Then, there are insurance add ons that push the costs even higher.

Brooks says lower income people who can't get a regular bank loan or a credit card need payday loans as an option for unexpected expenses. Clark Howard says find another option:

"This is the wrong cure," said Clark Howard, the Atlanta consumer guru who hosts a nationally syndicated radio talk show. "In my book, [payday lending] just makes people more ill."

Payday loans came under fire when military men and women were being targetted and taken advantage of. In 2004, the state of Georgia passed a law prohibiting payday lending. The problem amongst military families was not limited to Georgia. The Center for Responsible Lending cited a New York Times analysis that same year:

An analysis by the New York Times reveals that at least one fourth of military households (26%) have been caught up in payday lending. Officials at the Army Emergency Relief office in Fort Bliss, Texas, estimate that 10% of the 10,000 active-duty military stationed there have needed financial counseling because of payday loans and other debt problems.

While he concedes that people were being taken advantage of by payday lenders, Rep. Ehrhart says that Georgia's 2004 law was all about finance companies' desire to "push out the competition."

However, Teegardin's article closes with this:

When asked to rate the options, most consumer advocates recommend a finance company loan over a payday loan or car title loan.

"Small loans across the country are expensive credit, but they aren't as hazardous as the design of a payday loan," said Jean Ann Fox, director of consumer protection for the Consumer Federation of America.

Finance company loans are usually paid back over months or even several years. Payday loans must be paid off at the next payday, something that's just not realistic for most struggling borrowers, the advocates say.

PDB Scorches Jack Kingston

The folks over at Progressive Daily Beacon don't like Rep. Jack Kingston (R-D1) very much. In fact, they've pegged him as a "Republican extremist:"


"Kingston is, of course, anti-abortion and opposes stem cell research. He would say his position is based upon good Christian "pro-life" values, but as he is an enthusiastic supporter of the death penalty - "pro-life" seems to be a serious misrepresentation at best. Jack Kingston is a big supporter of extremist evangelical causes like those supported by Pat Robertson. Robertson, of course, is the guy who has regular discussions with "God" and blamed gay people for the attacks on 9/11. Indeed, Jack Kingston has sponsored Pat Robertson-like resolutions calling for the Ten Commandments to be prominently displayed in congressional chambers.

That's the problem with extremists like Jack Kingston. They beg and pray for the United States to attack Iran because it is a theocratic dictatorship...then they turn right round and support ideas that would make the United States into a theocratic dictatorship. Just like Iran is an Islamic Republic, Kingston mistakenly assumes the United States to be a "Christian" Republic. Folks like Jack Kingston believe Christian rulers to be "kinder and gentler" than Islamic rulers, but that rationale completely ignores historical events like the Spanish Inquisition and the Salem Witch Trials to name a few."


That does sort of highlight the Christian fundamentalist wing of the modern Republican party that has lead them to their ruin. It underscores their duplicity in "pro life" issues, as well as their condemnation of nations like Iran. You can't with any credibility call out one theocratic dictatorship when you're trying to establish one of your own. Kingston, himself, has heavily supported an administration that has limited us in our freedoms via heinous legislation like the Patriot Act. And he's used the guise of being a Christian to hide his tracks.

During Gerald Ford's funeral, much was made of his being the last Republican president (he was also very much a Christian) that was untethered to the Christian fundamentalist movement that hijacked the GOP beginning in 1980 with Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority. The Jack Kingstons of today don't realize how extremist they really are. They have truly lost the idea of a seperation of church and state, and why a group of Christians sought to make sure that the two didn't intermingle in the great new world.

Shirley Franklin: One of NPR's Leading Ladies

America's number one mayor, Atlanta's own Shirley Franklin, is one of NPR's "Leading Ladies." This is just the latest honor for perhaps the best current public official in Georgial. She is NPR's 4th featured lady joining such luminaries as Carol Moseley Braun, Geraldine Ferraro, and Debbie Walsh.

Make sure and listen to her interview.

I also noticed that Hostile Takover author Dave Sirota is on NPR today.

Also, catch Gregory Feifer's look into "What Happened to Russia's Democracy?" In light of so many strange deaths and murders involving critics of Putin, we need to be paying attention to what is going on with a country that the Bush administration considers an ally.

So flip the dial to NPR and turn it up!

Shop Progressive! Costco vs. Wal-Mart/Sam's Club

One of the side stories to the 2004 presidential election was the fact that the nation's two largest warehouse companies took sides. Wal-Mart went for Bush and Costco went for Kerry. When you look at how each does business and treats its employees, that should come as no surprise.

Wal-Mart's bare bones minimums in pay and practically no benefits at all for the supposed sake of the consumer (to whom it sells cheap, sometimes unreturnable crap-on-a-stick made in China) which they say they are looking out for. Sounds sort of like how the Bush administration has treated the American public for over 6 years now. Come to think of it, Georgia Republicans operate pretty much the same way.

Contrast that with Costco, whose CEO, Jim Sinegal, supports raising the federal minimum wage. Known to be labor friendly, here's why Costco can afford to support it:

Costco, of Issaquah, Wash., would suffer no direct impact from a higher minimum wage because its lowest-paid employees now make about $11 an hour, Sinegal said, adding that the average worker in the company's 504 stores in the United States makes $17 an hour.

"In my view, some of these industries that pay minimum wage are constantly turning their people," Sinegal said. "They spend more on turnover than they would in paying the additional wages."

The last article I linked to calls Sinegal a "maverick." Maybe, but I prefer to call it "progressive" thinking, both in the sense of thinking outside of the box as well as in political terms.

Perhaps this is all something that we might want to consider when we need to do our shopping. It pays to support businesses that support our values. And it makes no sense to do business with those that don't. It only empowers the Bushes, Cheneys, and Perdues of the world.

I'm not sure how often its updated, but the Pima County Democratic Party in Arizona has an informative website called Shop Progressive! It compares the level of commitment that major companies like Costco, Wal-Mart/Sam's Club, Apple Computers, Dell, etc. have to the two major political parties.

So give it a looksie and see who you've really been supporting.

Gov. Bill Richardson (NM) Democratic Darkhorse?

That's what NYT writer David Brooks (via the Post-Bulletin) says anyway. He also calls Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico the most experienced Democrat running for president. He's probably right about that. It's hard to argue with Richardson's credentials. If we have to roll up our sleeves in the fall of 2008 and get behind Gov. Richardson, I won't be unhappy.

I was told in private by another Georgia blogger last year that my "views" and my blog with a name like "Liberal Lucidity" was probably poison to any candidate that I chose to say anything good about. I don't know if that's true. But I'll risk it and say that Gov. Richardson would represent me and many of the issues that I care about extremely well.

Hat tip to Vivian J. Page.