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PAGE 2A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. OCTOBER 14. 2010
Our real simple guide to the
November 2nd Ballot Amendments
This week’s quotable quote -
“To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short. ”
- Confucius
We continue to get a few questions from
readers seeking more information on state
constitutional amendments that will fill a siz
able portion of the November 2nd election
ballot. These ballot items have been discussed
at a few meetings around, and we have fea
tured a story on the basics still available at
www.pickensprogress.com. The state is run
ning a legal description of the amendments in
the B-section legal notices of this newspaper.
Of the ballot issues, the one posing the
biggest local question (sole versus multi-per
son commission) appears as the very last item
on a lengthy ballot. We hope everyone will
save mental capacity or patience enough to
caste a vote on that issue -
even if they skip some of the
earlier questions.
Here is our real simple
guide to constitutional amend
ments on the November 2nd
ballot:
Amendment 1 - “Compet
itive agreements” seems rea
sonable. This would allow
companies to have stronger
non-compete clauses in con
tracts with employees. Appar
ently this is important in
high-tech industries and would
help Georgia meet the needs of companies
who might consider coming here.
Amendment 2 - This is what politics is all
about. Amendment 2 will add an extra $ 10 to
car tag fees for most vehicles, raising an ex
pected $80 million per year. The money will
be used to fund trauma centers only - no shift
ing into other categories. On the one hand, no
one is in the mood for a new tax this year. On
the other hand, if you have a car wreck in the
southern half of this state, don’t expect any
emergency rooms nearby—something you
can take for granted in the northern half of the
state. When you vote, consider: Do you care
that the poorer southern end of the state lacks
decent emergency rooms? If you are a regular
traveler to Florida you might. Are you willing
to give $ 10 per vehicle to help the other end
of the state and travelers south of Atlanta?
We’d vote yes but grudgingly.
Amendment 3 - DOT funding. Were the
DOT properly managed, we’d vote yes to give
them more flexibility in funding big projects.
Currently the department must have all the
funds on hand to pay for a project before they
start. This amendment would allow them to
pay as they go on projects when they lack in-
the-bank funds up front to complete massive
multi-year projects. But the DOT has incurred
a massive shortfall, has numerous projects on
the books they have never begun, and has gen
erally made a mess of its operation. Should we
reward that record with more flexibility when
the potential is too great for DOT to dig into
some project without any idea where funds to
finish it will come from. We’d
say vote no.
Amendment 4 - Energy sav
ing. The amendment would
allow the state to perform work
on old buildings to make them
more energy efficient and to pay
for this with the savings that
will come later. This is probably
a good idea, but we’d say vote
no anyway for the same hesi
tancy to trust government with
any more financial scheming as
cited above.
Amendment 5 - this amend
ment on property located in industrial areas
only applies to two pieces of property in the
state, both in south Georgia. This amendment
tries to undo a mess created when an earlier
amendment let these two property owners
avoid ever being annexed into a city. We’d
vote yes, as it doesn’t affect us in North Geor
gia, it doesn’t cost anything, and the people in
the area affected apparently are in favor of it.
Statewide Referendum
This lets businesses out of a one-quarter
mill state tax on inventory. State lawmakers
claim we would be better off to forego this rel
atively small amount of revenue in exchange
for making Georgia more competitive at at
tracting businesses. Maybe they are right.
We’d go along with that.
Amendment 2 is
what governance
is all about: Will
you pay an extra
$10 to know there
are more
emergency rooms
in our state?
Agree or Disagree? Tell us your thoughts on this week’s editorial either online at
the message board on the Progress Online (www.pickensprogress.com) or with a letter to the
editor that will be published next week. Letters may be e-mailed to
news@pickensprogress.com. All letters must have a valid e-mail address, full name and a
telephone number for verification. Phone numbers are not published. Letters may also be
sent regular mail to Pickens Progress - P.O. Box 67 - Jasper, GA 30143. All names are pub
lished. The Deadline for letters is each Monday at noon.
The Essential Bad Attitude
By Alan Gibson
It s fun to rationalize
You know how you drive up
to a store for a dart-in errand but
the only open parking spaces are
handicapped spaces? Okay
maybe there were a couple of
slots half a mile away across hot
tarmac, but here were two store
front beauties, naked to the tire,
shimmering with access. I asked
myself, what were the odds of
four handicapped people pulling
up in the next five minutes?
So I borrowed a handicapped
space for five lousy minutes -
that was the way I phrased it to
myself, ‘borrowing’ - and re
turned to find that, sure enough,
no handicapped person had
shown up.
Granted I felt slightly sullied
as I drove away; some vague
sense of having violated the ci
vility of other parkers who’d
played by the rales. But weigh
ing the value of my time against
some social abstraction... let’s
just say I could deal with it.
Please understand that as a
matter of general principle, I
play by the rales. Always have.
But efficient management of
time, that’s a principle too,
right?
Moral: One must not com
promise one’s general princi
ples, but you may be able to
work with the specific ones.
[ Gibson hosts Pickens
County's Friday Morning Dis
cussion Group. All attitudes are
welcome. For info: 770-893-
2578.]
A Tribute to Frank Sinatra at Falany
Performing Arts Center, Oct. 16
Sinatra Forever:
A Tribute to Frank
Sinatra is a concert
that pays homage to
the greatest singer
of all time.
Performed by
Rick Michel and the
San Jose Philhar
monic Orchestra at
the National Theater in Costa
Rica, this tribute honors the
music and the leg
end of Frank Sina
tra. Rick Michel is
one of Las Vegas’
premier singers, a
man of whom the
show business bible
Variety said, “He is
the closest thing to
Frank Sinatra we
have ever heard.”
Since he was a teenager, Rick
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JOHN R. POOL DAN POOL
Publisher Editor
WILLIAM E. POOL
Managing Editor
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has been singing Sinatra’s music
and has performed with big
bands since the early 1980s. “I
think Frank Sinatra was the
most articulate of all the pop and
standard singers,” said Michel.
“He made songs his own by
uniquely phrasing the words to
wrap around the melody line
like no one else before him or
since.”
Rick Michel’s latest project is
to sing songs that Frank Sinatra
might have sung or that would
have been interesting to hear
him sing, such as: Elvis Pres
ley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love,
Louis Armstrong’s What a Won
derful World and The Curtain
Falls by Bobby Darin, just to
name a few.
“I always thought that Barry
Manilow’s I Write the Songs
would have been a great song
for Frank to have interpreted.
He might even have changed the
title to I Sing the Songs to make
it even more his own,” Michel
remarks with a grin.
Sinatra Forever: A Tribute to
Frank Sinatra will be presented
on Saturday, Oct. 16. The two
shows are scheduled to begin at
2 and 7:30 p.m. All seats are re
served and tickets for the show
are $30 for adults and $24 for
seniors (55 and older) and chil
dren (12 and under). Additional
service charges may apply. For
tickets and information, call the
Falany Performing Arts Center
box office at 770- 720-9167 or
go on-line at http:// www.rein-
hardt.edu/fpac.
"No, they are not hunters.
Just candidates looking for undecided voters!"
OTHER VOICES
The Faith of Barack Obama and George Washington:
A Double Standard?
By Dr. Gary Scott Smith
Recent reports that nearly 20
percent of Americans believe
Barack Obama is a Muslim have
been widely discussed and ana
lyzed. Moreover, according to
surveys, only a third of Ameri
cans believe he is a Christian.
Evangelicals are almost evenly
divided, with 29 percent saying
he is a Muslim and 27 percent
saying he is a Christian.
Several factors have pro
moted this false perception:
Obama’s family background,
some of his public statements,
his lack of church attendance, be
lief that his philosophy of life is
more secular than Christian, and
deliberate attempts to discredit
the president. Pundits on the
right including Ann Coulter,
David Limbaugh, and Chuck
Norris have vociferously ques
tioned Obama’s claim to be a
Christian.
Clearly, the Muslim influ
ences upon Obama as he grew up
make his religious background
unique among American presi
dents. The only church to which
he has belonged is Trinity United
Church in Church, which he left
during the 2008 campaign be
cause of the inflammatory state
ments made by its pastor
Jeremiah Wright. This, coupled
with his infrequent church atten
dance as president, has con
tributed to considerable
confusion about his faith and
skepticism about his public pro
fessions to be a Christian.
However, Obama has repeat
edly declared that he is a Chris
tian, and in some cases he has
made very straightforward affir
mations of his faith. Obama’s
profession to be a Christian is ac
tually much clearer than that of
George Washington. Some au
thors argue, and many Ameri
cans believe, that Washington
was an orthodox Christian, but
the evidence for this claim is not
strong. Washington did attend
church almost every Sunday
while president, continually
asked “an all-powerful Provi
dence” to protect and guide him
and his army and nation, pro
fessed belief in the power of
prayer, and remained an Angli
can/Episcopalian all his life.
However, Washington re
ferred to Christ only a handful of
times in his public statements or
extant private letters and never
once declared that Jesus was di
vine or his personal savior.
Obama, on the other hand, has
explicitly stated that Christ is his
savior. In an interview in “Chris
tianity Today” in 2008, Obama
declared, “I am a devout Chris
tian. I believe in the redemptive
death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ.” “Accepting Jesus Christ
in my life,” he added, “has been
a powerful guide for my conduct
and my values and my ideals.”
Obama also stressed that he had
been a member of the same con
gregation for almost twenty
years and asserted “I have never
practiced Islam.”
At a breakfast for pastors and
parachurch leaders held two days
after Easter this year, the presi
dent stated that he wanted to
“continue the Easter celebration
of our risen Savior” and “to re
flect on the work to which His
promise calls all of us.” He dis
cussed the lesson he derived
“from Christ’s sacrifice” and the
inspiration the story of the resur
rection supplied. Obama cele
brated the discovery that forever
changed the world—the empty
tomb and Christ’s resurrection.
Obama expressed gratitude
for Christ’s “sacrifice ... for the
sins of humanity.” “As Chris
tians,” he proclaimed, “we be
lieve that... faith in Jesus Christ”
leads to our redemption and
brings “eternal hope.” He in
sisted that like “our Lord and
Savior” all Christians should
commit themselves to God and
“act justly and to love mercy and
walk humbly with the Lord.”
Again, compare this with
Washington. The first president
never directly discussed Christ’s
empty tomb, bodily resurrection,
or atonement for sin. Nor did he
clearly and consistently affirm
belief in an afterlife.
Obviously theologically con
servative Christians disagree
with many of Obama’s views, es
pecially on abortion and homo
sexuality. Many of us also think
that Obama wants to use the gov
ernment to solve problems that
can be best (or in some cases
only) dealt with by individuals or
private organizations. This is not,
however, a valid reason for be
lieving that he is not a Christian.
The actions of some other
presidents, perhaps most notably
Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton,
have led Americans to question
their profession of Christian
faith. But few presidents have
had their faith so closely scruti
nized or so completely misunder
stood as Obama.
In making this argument, I do
not mean to suggest that Obama
is comparable to Washington.
The nation’s first president de
servedly occupies a unique place
in American history and played
an indispensable role in the cre
ation and development of our na
tion. Moreover, I recognize that
times and norms have changed
greatly from the late 18th century
to today. I am pointing out that
Washington and Obama are
being judged by very different
standards. Looking at the evi
dence objectively leads to the
conclusion that Obama’s profes
sion of Christian faith is much
clearer than that of Washing
ton’s.
If Obama wants Americans to
believe he is a Christian, he and
his publicists could stop stressing
that he reads a devotional that a
staffer sends him on his Black-
Berry every morning and instead
disseminate his explicit declara
tions about the nature of his faith.
The president might also be
more careful and guarded in the
statements he makes about
Islam. And he could attend
church more frequently. Doing
these things would help put this
controversy to rest except among
those unwilling to take his state
ments and actions at their face
value.
[Dr. Gary> Scott Smith chairs
the history department at Grove
City College and is the author of
“Faith and the Presidency: From
George Washington to George W.
Bush ” (Oxford University Press,
2009). He is also a fellow for
faith and the presidency with The
Center for Vision & Values.]
Are we getting
it straight?
Have you spotted an
error in our pages?
Let our staff hear
about it.
706-253-2457 or
dpool@pickensprogress.com
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