http://www.macon.com/opinion/index.xml News, sports and entertainment from Macon Telegraph en-us Copyright 2012 Macon Telegraph Opinion 60 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:22:17 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's PubSys feedback@macon.com http://www.macon.com/2012/02/08/1895891/letting-our-light-shine.html http://www.macon.com/2012/02/08/1895891/letting-our-light-shine.html Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:37 EST “It’s hotter here” proclaims the slogan of the Gateway Initiative, and indeed it is, a lot more so than most folks appreciate. The fact is that this is a great place to live and a wonderful place to visit. Oddly, we’re doing a first-rate job of keeping our light under the proverbial bushel. http://www.macon.com/2012/02/08/1895889/the-uncounted-costs-of-public.html http://www.macon.com/2012/02/08/1895889/the-uncounted-costs-of-public.html Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:37 EST We like our troops fighting for us. We like free public schools. We like the convenience of interstates and other toll-free public roads.We like cheap electricity powering our homes and devices. We like unquestioned access to hospital care in an emergency. We like our Medicaid and Medicare. But we don’t want to count, or pay for, the full costs of all our public goods and services. http://www.macon.com/2012/02/08/1895890/looking-for-why.html http://www.macon.com/2012/02/08/1895890/looking-for-why.html Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:37 EST I guess I missed a good game Sunday. It was the Super Bowl but, to tell you the truth, I turned it off after Madonna’s 53-year-old strut across the stage, which reinforced my belief that we really don’t need to do that after 50. http://www.macon.com/2012/02/07/1894586/annual-state-of-the-column-covers.html http://www.macon.com/2012/02/07/1894586/annual-state-of-the-column-covers.html Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:57 EST In order to keep my national certification as a modest and much-beloved columnist, I am required to submit annually a State of the Column message. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Please stand and applaud if you hear something that floats your boat or look bored if you don’t. You may be on television. http://www.macon.com/2012/02/05/1891118/the-koran-and-christianity-part.html http://www.macon.com/2012/02/05/1891118/the-koran-and-christianity-part.html Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:11 EST In the center of so many issues facing our world today -- terrorism, Shariah law, the war in Iraq, the threat of Iran, the Arab spring, the continuing Mideast tension -- stands Islam. To most outsiders it’s a little understood religion, though all estimates find over a billion Muslims worldwide. The study of Islam is a huge task, but hopefully this tiny three part series will begin a journey of understanding for readers. Often, the more people are understood, the less they are feared. http://www.macon.com/2012/02/05/1891117/remembering-queen-bess.html http://www.macon.com/2012/02/05/1891117/remembering-queen-bess.html Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:11 EST In 1922, an 8-year old Arthur Freeman watched in amazement as a plane maneuvered effortlessly through the skies over Chicago at the hands of his aunt, Bessie Coleman. Thirty-year-old Bessie was the first black female pilot in the United States, and likely the world. http://www.macon.com/2012/02/03/1889680/will-consolidation-be-beneficial.html http://www.macon.com/2012/02/03/1889680/will-consolidation-be-beneficial.html Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:41 EST Considering the potential for gains in federal funding, reducing waste in governmental services and having a greater appeal to new residents and businesses; consolidating city of Macon and Bibb County governments seems a “no-brainer.” But it takes very careful use of our brains, and proper intentions of governmental leaders, to choose the best approach to consolidation for this community. http://www.macon.com/2012/02/01/1886513/law-would-halt-illegals-admission.html http://www.macon.com/2012/02/01/1886513/law-would-halt-illegals-admission.html Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:03 EST Georgia’s House Bill 59, from state Rep. Tom Rice, R-Gwinnett, is essentially a bill that says all public universities and tech schools in Georgia must ask for proof of eligibility from student applicants for admission and verify that aliens who apply are indeed eligible, using legal immigration status. http://www.macon.com/2012/02/01/1886507/seeking-the-truth.html http://www.macon.com/2012/02/01/1886507/seeking-the-truth.html Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:03 EST “We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government ... the thing we need to focus on about the founders is that, given the social structure of their time, they were revolutionaries who brought liberty into a world where it hadn’t existed, to everybody [though] not all equally.” This is a statement from Hal Rounds, the Fayette County attorney and spokesman for the group leading the charge to change the textboooks in Tennessee so they present a more favorable picture of our country’s founders by leaving out their slave owning history. http://www.macon.com/2012/01/31/1885500/southern-baptist-leader-speaks.html http://www.macon.com/2012/01/31/1885500/southern-baptist-leader-speaks.html Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:05 EST Whew! That was close! I almost became a Baptist the other day. Not just any Baptist, but a (gulp!) Southern Baptist. http://www.macon.com/2012/01/29/1882171/tim-tebow-and-faith-whats-the.html http://www.macon.com/2012/01/29/1882171/tim-tebow-and-faith-whats-the.html Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:11 EST After Tim Tebow threw four interceptions against the Buffalo Bills on Christmas Eve, Bill Maher decided it was time to light up the Twitterverse: “Wow, Jesus just (a word not suitable for this paper) Tim Tebow bad! And on Xmas Eve! Somewhere in hell Satan is Tebowing, saying to Hitler, ‘Hey, Buffalo’s killing them.’ ” It was a predictable tweet from Maher, the stridently atheist host of HBO’s “Real Time,” and it touched off an equally predictable response from at least one conservative Christian. “Bill Maher is disgusting vile trash,” Eric Bolling of Fox News tweeted. “I can’t even repeat what he just tweeted about Tebow ... on Christmas Eve. #straighttohellBill.” http://www.macon.com/2012/01/29/1882168/what-kind-of-military-do-we-want.html http://www.macon.com/2012/01/29/1882168/what-kind-of-military-do-we-want.html Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:11 EST Most everyone agrees we need to reduce our debt, and no part of government is immune to cuts, not even our national defense. But few agree where to cut or which missions to sacrifice. “A smaller military, however superb, will be able to go fewer places and do fewer things,” said former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. http://www.macon.com/2012/01/29/1882155/federal-auction-in-need-of-reform.html http://www.macon.com/2012/01/29/1882155/federal-auction-in-need-of-reform.html Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:10 EST On the hit A&E cable show “Storage Wars,” competing buyers take a quick peek inside foreclosed self-storage lockers, guess what treasure might be hidden inside, then bid against each other for the salvage rights. It’s entertaining television. But it’s a terrible model for the federal government to be adopting for acquiring life-and-death treatments for Medicare patients. http://www.macon.com/2012/01/27/1880997/marijuana-use-dont-think-it-cant.html http://www.macon.com/2012/01/27/1880997/marijuana-use-dont-think-it-cant.html Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:54 EST I just want to bring to light and let you know that there are more illegal drugs available to our high schools today than I can ever remember. I have I have been teaching for 12 years now. I have heard of or seen students in previous years that got “busted” here or “got caught” there, but never to the degree that has occurred this academic year. http://www.macon.com/2012/01/27/1880999/bit-by-gambling-sting.html http://www.macon.com/2012/01/27/1880999/bit-by-gambling-sting.html Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:54 EST I’ve been sleeping a little better at night this week, and I think the reason is that a scourge that has been quietly plaguing our community for who-knows-how-long has finally been met head-on by local law enforcement. The Warner Robins Police Department made a bold series of arrests last Friday that has surely shaken the criminal element in the International City to its very core. http://www.macon.com/2012/01/26/1879216/be-careful-what-you-ask-for.html http://www.macon.com/2012/01/26/1879216/be-careful-what-you-ask-for.html Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:04 EST Money is the lifeblood of politics. If you doubt that, all you have to do is take a peek at the sums of money being spent in the Republican primaries. That is not to say primaries involving Democrats are any less influenced by cash. http://www.macon.com/2012/01/25/1877460/a-few-questions-about-the-new.html http://www.macon.com/2012/01/25/1877460/a-few-questions-about-the-new.html Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:04 EST I say Dr. Romain Dallemand is one brave school superintendent. If nothing else, who starts to inform Bibb Board of Education members with specifics about his Strategic Improvement Plan only one week before the announced unveiling of the plan to the public. Like everyone else outside Dallemand’s staff, I know no more than the teasers given out by the superintendent as reported by The Telegraph. Therefore, I tread lightly with questions and comments which will hopefully be answered or clarified shortly by the BOE. http://www.macon.com/2012/01/25/1877904/some-memories-are-keepers.html http://www.macon.com/2012/01/25/1877904/some-memories-are-keepers.html Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:12 EST My brother and I had, what were known as paper routes, back before adults got in their cars and did it the easy way. We walked and rode bicycles to deliver the Knoxville Journal, the morning paper. I was 13, he 12. Dad was fresh out of the service, like many today, and taking jobs wherever they could be found. Mom stayed at home with us five kids. http://www.macon.com/2012/01/24/1876268/my-random-thoughts-on-a-number.html http://www.macon.com/2012/01/24/1876268/my-random-thoughts-on-a-number.html Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:05 EST State Sen. Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, one of our two unelected lieutenant governors -- Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock is the other -- sent out a puff piece taking much credit for authoring a bill to require local school boards to consider a teacher’s “effectiveness,” not seniority, when getting rid of teachers. People both inside and outside state government tell me that Williams has solved a problem that doesn’t exist. Many school boards are already doing this. Seniority is a big issue in the Northeast, where there are teachers unions. We have none in Georgia. I wish Williams and/or Rogers would share with me their vision for public education in the state. I have no doubt that public school teachers around the state would be interested to hear their views. On the other hand, maybe they think if they shut their eyes I will go away and leave them be. They would be more correct to think that maybe the sun will rise in the west ... http://www.macon.com/2012/01/22/1874368/what-do-you-expect-from-your-daily.html http://www.macon.com/2012/01/22/1874368/what-do-you-expect-from-your-daily.html Sun, 22 Jan 2012 07:53 EST The beginning of a new year is often a time for personal reflection. It can also be a time for professional reflection and a time to make some changes for the better.