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Welinvite youjp
comeand celebrate
Thursdays: College Night
8 Chicken Wings tor ‘3.99
Drink Specials 5-9pm
1 Draft Beer - 5 1.99 Margaritas
First Annual Survivors & Supporters
Cottage Celebration
Celebrate those who have survived
sexual assault and abuse in Athens as well as those
who work to support the prevention of it.
Friday, May 6th
Nuci’s Space
7-10 p.m.
Music by Pearson Perry &
Kimberly Morgan and Friends
Join us for free food, great music,
hot raffle items, and a silent auction.
sexual assault center <& children’s advocacy center
www.northgeorgiacottage.org
GEORGIA IS TRAILING ALABAMA
There was a time when it seemed that no
state could be more generous than Georgia
when it came to giving tax assistance tc
corporations and their CEOs. After all, this is
the state where only last week the governor
signed legislation that will give tax breaks
totaling $30 million over the next two years
to a company—Delta Air Lines—that already
reported more than $1.4 billion in net income
during 2010.
It turns out that I was wrong to think that
no one could top our generosity to the busi
ness community. Over in Alabama, government
officials are putting together a package of
financial incentives for a major corporation
that will total more than $1 billion.
That is one heck of a lot of assistance.
As reported by the Mobile Press-
Register, state and government
officials have agreed to give
ThyssenKrupp AG, a German com
pany that is planning to open
a steel mill, tax abatements
and other forms of financial
assistance that will total $1,073
billion.
All of those financial incentives
have been pledged to ThyssenKrupp
for opening a steel plant that will
provide an estimated 2,700 jobs. That means
Alabama taxpayers will be putting up more
than $400,000 per job.
Now that is what you call government
generosity. It even surpasses the spirit of giv
ing displayed by our former governor, Sonny
Perdue, several years ago.
When Perdue was first elected governor in
2002, one of the unresolved issues he had to
deal with was the finalization of an agreement
between the state and DaimlerChrysler for the
location of an auto assembly plant on a state-
owned site in Chatham County.
Outgoing governor Roy Barnes had pulled
together a package of financial incentives to
persuade the German-American automaker
to open a factory that would employ 3,400
people. Shortly before he was sworn in as
governor, Perdue was given the details of the
Barnes package: it was worth $320 million,
which amounted to $96,000 per job.
"When Sonny read the secret details of
the contract, his jaw hit the floor," Perdue's
communications director, Dan McLagan, said.
"However, the state had made a commitment.
All we could do was honor it while muttering
under our breath, 'Never again, never again.'"
"Never again," as it turned out, didn't
really mean never again.
DaimlerChrysler decided against opening
that auto plant. When Perdue was running
for a second term in 2006, he was anxious
to close any kind of deal that would bring
economic development to Georgia. In March
of that year, Perdue announced an agree
ment to give Kia Motors of Korea a
package of tax and financial incen
tives worth $410 million to open a
factory in West Point that would
employ 2,500 people.
That financial package aver
aged more than $160,000
per job—about 70 percent
higher than the Barnes offer to
DaimlerChrysler that supposedly
caused Perdue's jaw to "hit the
floor." At the time, it looked like Perdue
had set a record for government generosity
that would never be broken in our lifetimes,
but the officials of Alabama have opened their
coffers even wider.
It was local officials in Jefferson County
(Birmingham) who got fleeced by a pack
of Wall Street speculators and plunged the
county into a $5 billion hole when they built
a new sewer system. It was also in Alabama
where, according to a federal indictment, lob
byists were allegedly promising as much as
$2 million apiece in their efforts to persuade
legislators to approve the legalization of elec
tronic bingo.
Here in Georgia, we've obviously got some
catching up to do.
Tom Crawtord tcrawford@gareport.com
THIS MtlllU W*RL» by TOM TOMORROW
GIVEN MIS OTHERWORLDLY
DEMEANOR AND PRETER
NATURAL CALM--
—HOW CAN WEI
BE SURE OBAMA
WAS REALLY
BORN ON THE
PLANET EARTH?
SOMETIME IN 2008 OR
SO, A RUMOR BEGINS
TO CIRCULATE.
WITHIN A FEW YEARS
THE SO-CALLED "£ARTH£RS"
ARE EVERYWHERE.
WHAT BETTER WAY For
A SHAPE-SHIFTING ALIEN
TO INFILTRATE AND CON
QUER OUR SOCIETY--
I I
—THAN TO POSE AS A
BLACK INFANT BORN TO
IMPOVERISHED PARENTS
IN 1*161.'
WHY WON'T OBAMA RE
LEASE A DNA SAMPLE?
DOES HE HAVE SOME
THING TO HIDE?
BUT THEN—
AND THEN A PUBLICITY
HUNGRY LUNATIC JUMPS
INTO THE FRAY.
—THE PRESIDENT HA5
SUPPLIED DNA—PROVING
THAT HE IS HUMAN/
I REPEAT—THE PRESIDENT
Of THE UNITED 5TATES
IS A HUMAN BEING/
WHAT A
STUNNING
development;
I THE "EARTHER5” RAISE
SOME VERY INTERESTING
Iquestions;
ffice
LOUNGE
athens
'Friendly Neijfiborftoocf£ai
Wednesday - KARAOKE CONTEST 9pm
Thursday - BLUES JAM 8:30pm
Friday - KARAOKE 8:30pm
Saturday - HANDS OF TIME 9:30pm
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• 706.546.0840
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'Pool' Pm Popcorn ' r Julicfw,x
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clearly WEI
ARE THE
REAL VICTIMS
J
republicans scramble
TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT.
HOW DO WE KNOW OSAMA
DIDN'T START THE RUMOR
HIMSELF—IN ORDER
TO MAKE CONSERVATIVES
LOOK BAD?
DIEHARD “EARTHERS" RE
MAIN SKEPTICAL.
THIS PROVES NOTHING 1 .
D6 YOU KNOW HOW
EASY IT WOULD BE For
AN ADVANCED ALIEN
SPECIES TO REPLICATE
A LITTLE HUMAN DNA?
VERY EASY
INDEED!
AND THE PUBLICITY-HUNGRY
LUNATIC PRESSES FOR
WARD UNDETERRED.
ROW'D HE GET INTO
HARVARD, ANYWAY?
WITH THE HELP Of AN
ALIEN MIND CONTROL
RAY, MAYBE?
ASKIN
JUST
I'M
NONE OF IT HAS ANY
THING TO Do WITH
RACE, OF COURSE.
IHEH^HEH.1
HEY—ALL WE'RE SAYING
IS THAT THE PRESIDENT
IS A STRANGE, DARK-
SKINNED, ALIEN OTHER:
IXNAY
OH—I
ON THE
ARKDAY
INS KAY.
OOPS—DID
I SAY
THAT OUT
LOUD?
6 FLAGPOLE.COM-MAY 4,2011
1*M RP-'Weion ...www.ttilsmocternworld.com.. .twittor.com/lomtomorrow