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PAGE 14A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. OCTOBER 21.2010
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Letters to the Editor
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Dear Editor:
I was in a factory the other
day.
The shipping manager had a
cartoon on the wall that said “Ar
guing with a truck driver is sort
of like wrestling with a pig. It
gets little accomplished and after
a while you figure out that the
pig likes it.”
Arguing with Mr. Robinson is
the same way but here it goes
with some facts:
1. The program does no good
till 2014.
2. But it is hiring federal em
ployees like mad with 20 new
departments of the federal gov
ernment.
3. It taxes now, the people that
basically take care of themselves
and are responsible citizens.
4. Should we be responsible
for our 26-year-old “kids” or are
these “kids” or dead beats?
5. It insures very few people.
6. Most of the people it in
sures should buy their own pol
icy.
7. It doesn’t add to the debt by
cuts in Social Security, Medicare
and Medicaid. Why aren’t old
people raising hell and when was
the last time the Democrats or
Politians in general cut a social
give-a-way program. It won’t
happen and the bill will produce
lots of debt for our kids.
8. It’s going to eliminate jobs
everywhere but the government.
9. The program has almost no
specifics and had to be passed
“so we can see what is in it”.
10. Bureaucrats are going to
write the rules on the program
and those same bureaucrats are
going to be exempt from the pro
gram.
11. When the unions default
on their insurance responsibili
ties, the program with cover
them.
12. The president, congress
men, senators and federal em
ployees will be exempt from the
program.
13.1 guaranteed that it’s going
to fund illegal’s healthcare. The
judges will make sme of that.
14. When was the last time a
government program was under
budget and on time? Look at the
current programs which are
bankrupt. The Social Security
program cost 10 times what they
originally forecasted!
Is the bill totally worthless,
no! Is healthcare too expensive,
yes! We need to scrap it and start
over with a decent bill which re
lies on public insurance pools
and the good provisions of the
bill.
Thank you,
Dennis Shine
Dear Editor:
Something besides politics for
a change, some good news! Sat
urday, 10-09-10, Home Depot
hosted The Public Safety Aware
ness Day. What great turnout
there was. With participation
from our southern neighbor
Cherokee County Fire and Has-
mat Team, a large showing from
our own Pickens County Sher
iff’s Department, the Georgia
State Patrol, Pickens County Fire
Department, Jasper Fire Depart
ment, the Breast Cancer Aware
ness folks, insurance folks, our
Pickens County Humane people,
Nivek Disaster Response Com
pany, the Corp of Engineers, the
school system and on and on. So
many I can’t recall them all.
This event is very important
in my opinion as it introduces the
folks we rely on in emergencies
and it provides one on one inter
action with Pickens County citi
zens. Free fun and food
abounded. Great hot dogs and
drinks provided by Home Depot,
snacks by other organizations.
Everything from llama’s to
Smokey the Bear, what great fun
for the children. Prize drawings
for adults and kids with music to
occupy the day.
The only entity that was
sorely missed was our Jasper Po
lice Department. I asked a city
policeman why they were not
present and he replied that there
were only two men on duty. A
poor excuse in my opinion. One
would think that with a new chief
of police it would have been a
great time to meet and greet his
city and county citizens. Well it’s
his loss.
These kinds of events help us
all to be thankful for our men and
women that protect and serve us.
I am looking forward to the next
event like this. Thank you Home
Depot.
Best regards,
T.J. Irwin
Dear Editor:
In the 10-14-10 editorial you
made a statement that exempli
fies one of the problems in our
society. When talking about
Amendment 2 - the extra $10 tag
fee for money to fund trauma
centers in the state, you wrote
“Do you care that the southern
end of the state lacks decent
emergency room rooms? If you
are regular traveler to Florida
you might.”
What difference does it make
if we will personally use the
trauma centers? Is that all we
care about? What we personally
can get for our taxes? Oh yea,
that is what people care about.
Forget about those less fortunate.
I have heard “We take care of our
own”. What does that mean?
Where are the boundaries?
Are the boundaries your im
mediate family? People within a
3-mile radius? People in Jasper?
Pickens County? Georgia? the
United States? It’s a ten dollar
fee. Less than a carton of ciga
rettes. Less than 2 six packs of
beer. And certainly a real drop in
the bucket for many residents.
I know you wrote that “we’d
vote yes, but grudgingly”. I
guess we will be like some folks
around here and expect them to
be groveling grateful for our
charitable service. Where is the
charity in that? We are so stuck
in “what is in it for me” that we
can’t see beyond our noses.
The other day a woman said
to me that the new Health Care
Bill is going to ruin everything
for her children or her children’s
children. I replied, “Well, what if
they grow up and can’t get a job
or benefits? What will they do
then?” I could tell from the look
on her face that she had never
even considered this outcome.
We think we are so charitable.
A charitable nation. But on an
every day level, it is every man
for himself.
Robin Tondra
Dear Editor:
Re: Miss Reinhardt Uni.
Congratulations Alexa Hus
ton, Miss Reinhardt University
2010.1 am so very proud of you.
I remember you so well as a
beautiful and sweet third grade
student when your mom and I
worked together at JES. I knew
then that you were destined for
great things!
Winnie Holley
Dear Editor:
My letter in the Oct. 7 edition
referred to Phil Anderson’s meet
ing with Robert Jones on July 23.
I neglected to properly identify
the date at July 23, 2008.
Charles McCain
Dear Editor:
I am from a family who has
lived in Pickens County I’m sure
over 150 years; most all of my
life time has been spent as a res
ident of this county. I’m well ac
quainted with the older families
here as well as many of the new
comers. After attending meetings
of those in favor of a multi-com
missioner board, those in favor
of a sole commissioner and sev
eral open forums I am convinced
that we should stay with the sole
commissioner form of govern
ment we now have. In order to do
this it is imperative that we get
out and vote NO.
I have talked with many,
many of our residents and I
firmly believe that the majority
of our people want to stay with
the sole commissioner. However,
if we do not get out and vote NO,
then this multi-commissioner
board idea will come to pass and
we will have that to live with!
Sincerely,
Ann Parks
Dear Editor:
Mr. Kippenhan is like most on
the left and is full of empty rhet
oric while ignores the facts. I
have supported my statements
with facts and examples unlike
him but he calls me an ideologue,
Hmmm....go figure. I guess I
would rather be labeled (inaccu
rately though) an ideologue even
though I state facts than to be a
demagogue like him. Mr. Kip
penhan, are you envious of those
that are successful and you want
to see them “punished” via
taxes? He supports raising taxes
on everyone, primarily the so-
called rich even though the top
1% of earners pay almost 40% of
taxes but do not earn 40% of
wages. The bottom 50% only pay
3% of taxes but earn far more
than 3% of the income. So tell
me the rich and middle class do
not pay there “fair share”! Yes,
the tax rates were much higher in
the 1940s through the 1970s but
there were far, far more deduc
tions making the effective tax
rate lower than we have now be
cause of far fewer deductions.
Sir, I would appreciate for you to
support your claim or implica
tion from a pure economic stand
point how higher tax rates,
stronger unions and more regula
tion will render prosperity and
get us out of the economic mess
we are in now? Please use facts
and not empty, emotional rheto
ric you and other leftist normally
do.
Also, please explain how gov
ernment creates jobs and pros
perity like you imply along with
the PATHETIC Harry Reid and
Nancy Pelosi (she believes more
food stamps, more drawing un
employment and welfare will
have the greatest positive impact
on the economy. What a LOON
she is).
A major contributing factor to
stagnating wages is government
policies. America has the second
highest corporate tax rate in the
industrialized world and is over
regulated and under the current
climate faces higher taxes, more
burdens (Obamacare mandates)
and more regulation - not an in
centive for growth and hiring.
Developing countries do not
have as high of a tax rate nor face
the regulation American business
contend with. This is a major rea
son why we are losing jobs over
seas. Mr. Kippenhan, please offer
facts to support your claims in
stead of mindless rhetoric and
demagoguery.
Bill Cagle
Dear Editor:
This Sunday, 10-17-10, my
husband and I were riding
through downtown when we no
ticed a “Turban” wearing mans
picture displayed prominently in
a store front. Further examina
tion revealed that the store spe
cializes in pictures of
Afghanistan. I think this is poor
taste giving the fact that our boys
and girls are dying fighting a war
in that country. OK, free speech
and all considered, does it have
to be so prominent? Ask anyone
that has lost someone in
Afghanistan and I think you will
get the same opinion.
Paulette Fowler-Irwin
Dear Editor:
Francis Stewart was right a
couple weeks ago. A single com
missioner means no checks on
discretionary spending. Appar
ently someone waved money in
Bill Newton’s face, and he slob
bered over it, then stuck Pickens
County taxpayers on the hook for
a cool million without any
“what’s up?” Multiple commis
sioners can do the same thing,
though, it’s just harder to follow.
What we need is law that says
expenditures must be published
before they are committed so
conflicts of interest and other
malfeasance can be pre-empted.
If everything Bill did regarding
the State Patrol building was
legit, why didn’t he just tell us
beforehand?
We have the same problem
nationally. For the conservative
Supreme Court has determined,
again, in the Citizens United v.
Federal Election Commission
decision, that money is more im
portant than people. When purely
money-making.. .things? entities?
artificial people? are allowed to
spend unlimited money to con
trol information to voters, then
the elected officials will tend to
vote in favor of money-making
artificial people (corporations,
that is). Benito Mussolini pre
ferred the term “Corporatism”
for this sort of thing, instead of
the oft-misused “Fascism”.
These corporations, of course,
are just fronts for sociopathic
people who want to control every
aspect of society from water sup
ply to where you can go on the
internet to who gets fire protec
tion for their house, in order to
make money from it. This is
why we have (unenforced) anti
trust laws and this is why we
need public campaign financing,
and a modification to the First
Amendment that says that it only
applies to REAL people. Corpo
rations can’t get a colonoscopy.
But that’s ok for conservative
Republicans, because it’s.... good
for business. Bad for people.
Don’t get misled by the mantra
“good for business” or “pro-busi
ness” as if a law or policy that
conservatives say is “bad for
business” would cause all busi
nesses to fail. No, “bad for busi
ness” just means “we can’t rip
you off and destroy your re
sources as much as we could be
fore”.
There was a legislative re
sponse to the conservative
court’s money-grubbing. The
Disclose Act, a Senate bill spon
sored by Democrats that would
have required transparency for
corporate campaign donations,
was filibustered by Senate Re
publicans. Think about it. You
can vote for secretive, bailed out
corporations or you can vote for
people.
Andy Kippenhan
Dear Editor:
Now we see how democracy
is drowned in a flood of money.
First, the five “conservatives”
on the U.S. Supreme Court de
cided in Citizens United v. FEC
that corporations (and unions)
may spend unlimited amounts
from their general treasury funds
on “independent expenditures”
for elections and referendums.
As far as those Justices are con
cerned, corporations have the
First Amendment rights of flesh
and blood citizens. (Corpora
tions’ stockholders - as individu
als - already have First
Amendment rights. This case
granted them to the non-human
separate legal entity.)
Second, political front groups
spending this money have organ
ized themselves under the
501(c)(4) IRS code that permits
them to keep the source of the
money SECRET. These include
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
and outfits such as Karl Rove’s
Crossroads GPS. Now, corpora
tions that might be embarrassed
if the public knew that they were
behind nasty ads can keep what
they do secret.
Third, the Republicans used
their filibuster to keep this
money secret. The House of Rep
resentatives passed the DIS
CLOSE Act, to require
transparency - that donors behind
anonymous attack ads be re
vealed to the public. It also
barred foreign corporations,
major government contractors,
and financial bailout recipients
from making political expendi
tures. In the Senate, although
unions also are regulated by the
DISCLOSE Act but another
membership organization, the
National Rifle Association, as-
toundingly was completely ex
empted to please Republicans,
every Senate Republican backed
a filibuster to prevent a vote on
the Act.
The U.S. Chamber of Com
merce acknowledges that it re
ceives money from foreign
corporations, and that money
goes into the same bucket with
all of its revenues. But, they say,
while we make political expendi
tures out of that same bucket, we
don’t use the foreign dollars
(pick around them, presumably).
But they don’t have to show us
any of that. It’s a secret.
The Fortune 500 alone had
profits in 2009 (after chopping
821,000 jobs in that year alone)
of $391 billion - already back to
normal, unlike their former em
ployees. Speculation is that this
year’s elections will see a
RECORD expenditure of $5 bil
lion from all sources, a clear
warning that corporate money
overwhelms everything else. But
citizens are NOT permitted to
know. It’s a secret, thanks to the
Republicans.
That this much control over
our democracy is in the hands of
corporations apparently is OK
with the national Tea Party or
ganizations. That says it all about
their “grassroots” (Astroturf?)
claims.
G. David Robinson
Dear Editor:
Your vote on the November
ballot concerning the form of
government for those of us living
in Pickens County is critical to
the future of our county and your
taxes. Unlike most of Georgia
and elsewhere in the country, we
are blessed with having a simple,
effective and responsive form of
local government here in Pickens
County.
Moving from a sole-commis
sioner form of government to a
multi-commissioner form of
government has no clear bene
fits. The change will greatly in
crease the annual cost of
government by at least $250,000,
and probably more, will very
likely greatly increase our long
term debt by funding unneces
sary projects as has happened in
other counties with multi-com
missioner governments and will
certainly reduce the impact of
your voice in government.
For a small county such as
ours, simplicity is strength and
efficiency. For that reason I am
voting NO in the November elec
tion for the proposal to change
from a sole-commissioner gov
ernment to a multi-commissioner
government.
Sincerely,
Laurence I. Peterson
Dear Editor:
I feel the political party ma
chinery (Democratic and Repub
lican) have presented Georgia
voters with terrible choices for
governor; one candidate was a
failure as governor previously
and the other seems to be less
than a trustworthy person. I’m
hoping the Libertarian candidate,
John Monds, won’t do any worse
as governor than the other
choices; he seems the only can
didate worthy of my vote, sort of
“none of the above” voters
choice. Sure would stir up the es
tablished political scene if he
should win the election.
Concerned citizen,
Leland Rogers
Dear Editor:
I enjoyed reading Dr. Smith’s
article The Faith of Barack
Obama and George Washington:
A Double Standard? I have some
interesting information for Dr.
Smith. He stated that George
Washington referred to Christi
anity only a handful of times in
his public statements or private
letters and never once declared
that Jesus was divine or his per
sonal Savior.
I use a book called Pray for
Our Nation with scriptural
prayers to revive our country that
was published by Harrison
House in my daily quiet time
with God. George Washington is
quoted twice on the back cover.
On Oct. 3, 1789 in his first pres
idential proclamation, he stated,
“It is the duty of all nations to ac
knowledge the providence of
Almighty God.” Another quote
from our first American Presi
dent is: “Of all the dispositions
and habits which lead to political
prosperity, religion and morality
are indispensable supports. It is
impossible to rightly govern the
world without God and the
Bible.” But the one that blesses
me most and that I want to share
with Dr. Gary Scott Smith is this
one: George Washington prayed,
“Direct my thoughts, words and
work, wash away my sins in the
immaculate Blood of the Lamb,
and purge my heart by Thy Holy
Spirit ... Daily frame me more
and more into the likeness of Thy
Son Jesus Christ.” I don’t think
that leaves room for speculation
as to what he thought of Jesus
Christ. That’s the gospel in a nut
shell. That leaves no room for
questioning whether George
Washington was a Christian.
No, Dr. Smith, looking at the
evidence objectively does not
lead to the conclusion that
Obama’s profession is much
clearer than that of Washington.
Washington’s is far superior! We
just need to be presented with all
of the facts in order to make our
judgement.
Winnie Holley
Dear Editor:
In an otherwise accurate dis
tillation of an hour’s worth of in
terviews with me regarding the
uncertain Pickens/Dawson
Coimty line (Progress Oct. 7) my
comments regarding creating
complications for land title
searches were misapplied.
I made them addressing a pro
posal by one of the counties offi
cials that Pickens and Dawson
ought to consider rationalizing
their boundary by deliberately
transferring properties from one
to another, on a small scale or
large, to better conform to their
ability to provide services given
the rugged and remote geogra
phy of the mountaintop, among
other reasons.
These complications are not
likely to apply to a survey of the
current line. Two reasons:
Firstly, just a handful of
parcels are bounded by the
“county line”, no new ones since
the ’80s. Our county line survey
applied the general legal princi
ples of boundary control which
give weight to long-standing rep
utation in otherwise uncertain sit
uations. We honored those
boundaries. It helps that they
were all competently reckoned.
Secondly, those parcels where
the county line cuts through them
all have their originating survey
plats, with the possible exception
of Big Canoe, describing the
county line as “approximate”. In
those cases, title attorneys should
have been put on notice that
properties near the county line
may be in either one or both. We
should note that the current Pick
ens County Land Development
Ordinance prohibits creating new
parcels partly in another county.
Thank you,
Brian Jankovich
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