Monday, Gov. Sonny Perdue took a bold step and dropped the state diesel fuel tax. What, no dancing in the street? What, no kudos from people far and wide, from Catoosa County to Camden County? The reason for the muted celebration is simple; Perdue's bold step wasn't quite bold enough. In fact, it was rather puny and counter-productive. Perdue limited his bold move to the off-road farm and timber industries.
There is no doubt America will have to revise its approach to oil consumption, and that revision could be just around the corner. Congress, meanwhile, continues to waffle around the problem in ways that suggest it is taking this malignant situation seriously, but its actions suggest othewise. This week, the Senate voted to stop the shipment of 70,000 barrels of oil daily to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a storage facility on the Gulf Coast, which, the Associated Press reports, is 97 percent full...
Have you seen the future of basketball? You can this summer at various gyms in cities throughout Georgia and for just a few dollars. So, what will you see? You'll see 13-year-olds who handle the ball like a Pete Maravich and six-foot-five 15-year olds who play like Shaquille O'Neal, but more important, you'll see coaches who insist on integrity and sportsmanship from every player.
Let's say you don't care enough about the veterans returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan to fix the G.I. Bill. Let's also say you're up for re-election this year. What do you do?
The early Sunday morning tornado ripped tress, tore rooftops and scattered debris. Monday, several areas of the county were still without power, but for all the damage there was one thing the storm couldn't destroy: Community.
For all the faults of our nation we remain one of the most generous countries on Earth. When disaster strikes anywhere on the globe, the United States is first to lend a hand. That helps define us as a people, and is one of the reasons we are still admired. However, there are certain people on this planet who show contempt, not only to the United States, but to their own people, and the ruling junta in Myanmar (formerly Burma) is a good example.
