Georgia School Children Are Not Lab Rats!

Admit it!  You know it feels good to be vindicated and be able to say, “I told you so.”  I’m feeling pretty darn good right now!  In this Unfair and Unbalanced column on September 30, 2015, with the headline of “About Those Abortion Videos,” I pointed out that the videos were a fabricated lie meant to destroy Planned Parenthood.  I called out Presidential candidate, Carly Fiorina, for dramatically describing an abortion scene she attributed to Planned Parenthood as a lie.  For telling this truth, I earned my first “Editor’s Prerogative Disclaimer”, and a lengthy Letter to the Editor from a pro-life interest group.  In that same column, I told you the truth moves slower than a lie.  

Last week, in Texas (I repeat, TEXAS!)  a Grand Jury was impaneled to hear evidence to indict Planned Parenthood.  In a surprising turn, the Grand Jury indicted the two people who brought the charges and who made the videos!  I did a happy dance!  I often doubt our justice system but my faith has been restored.  “I told you so!”

Now I hope that justice will be served to the 100,000 people of Flint, Michigan.  This is America, folks!  Governor Rick Snyder and the powers that be, knew the water was poisoning the residents of Flint and did nothing.  The first step toward justice is Governor Snyder has to go! I have to ask the question, “If the 9,000+ children whose IQ’s are being lowered by the lead poisoning were largely White and had Republican parents, would the Republican Governor Snyder have chosen to sit on his derriere for two years?”

Will Georgia’s education system end up like Michigan’s?  Michigan is an example of what happens when we the people have no voice in how our government is run.  The people of Michigan voted for a public act that allowed the State to seize control of troubled cities, and that included schools.  This is not very different from the Amendment to the Georgia Constitution that Governor Deal will have voting on the ballot in November. This amendment allows only the Governor to make decisions regarding our children’s education. 

I told you before of Governor Deal’s plan to take over “failing” schools.  It just so happens that these schools are located in minority and poor areas, just like in Michigan.  Michigan usurped the power from local school districts in poor and minority cities, even dissolving some school districts.  We now know that Michigan’s take over of public schools was a complete and total failed experiment.  We can’t afford to experiment with our children in Georgia.  They are not lab rats.

If Governor Deal and his cronies have their way, we will have no input into how our schools are run.  The first thing we learned about U.S. Government in school is that we are a democracy because we have a system of checks and balances.  I fear we are running out of checks and our balance is running low. 

By the time you read this, everybody in the world will know who won Iowa.  I follow presidential politics closely and I can tell you, I don’t have a clue what the outcome will be. Neither does Chuck Todd.  Historically it has not mattered.  Nobody has ever said, “So goes Iowa, so goes the rest of the country.”  I just hope if Ted Cruz wins Iowa, Will Davis doesn’t hurt himself jumping up and down. 

Remember, this is an “opinion” column.  In my opinion, High Falls has the greatest Fire Department in the entire universe, or at least in Monroe County.  Saturday night, I calmly made a 911 call explaining that I was making a “just in case” call because we smelled something suspicious in our house.  It was less than five minutes before the red truck army arrived.  With their heat-seeking thingamabob, they located the source and pre-empted what could have been a devastating fire.  I didn’t even know there was a thingamabob.  I do know that contributions to your local fire departments help them buy other thingamabobs that can be life-saving.  So the next time you see a “boot” chip in extra for more thingamabobs. 

While on the subject of High Falls, people here are excited because we have a new hardware store!   A real hardware store.  Clint & Co Hardware is located at the corner of High Falls Road and Lake Shore Drive.  You can find most anything you need for home repairs and projects.  Yea!  We no longer have to travel twelve miles to get a certain size screw, bolt, or part for a leaky toilet.  If you get a wild hair to paint your bedroom, there is a paint section.  A lumber section is coming soon.   It doesn’t take much to make the humble people of High Falls happy.