Kind of weird

I'm wrestling with this charter school proposal in Oconee County for, well, the same reasons that the Oconee County Board of Education is wrestling with it. My friend David Weeks wisely asks 'why' ...

With Oconee County public schools already outperforming others around the state in math and science, Weeks said he'll base his decision on what would be best for the county's students.

"If we can do it better with a charter school, then I'm all for it, but if we can do it better in the school system, then I'm for that," he said.

Hillary and I share some disagreements over charter schools, with she being opposed to them in principle while I take a much softer stance on the issue in that, well, namely I think that, if structured right, they can provide a strong educational alternative for their respective communities. And The Oconee County School of Math and Science appears to be just that, but I go back to Weeks's concern ...

The Oconee County schools perform very well academically and among some of the best in the state in a variety of categories, so it seems more than odd to set this type of charter school in an area that already features well-performing schools. This would, to me at least, appear to be a good model for Clarke County which features a very talented population of students, but also struggles with dropout rates, parental engagement and the like. Such a venture here might be very beneficial (then again, it might have the oppositie effect, who knows).

Worth a read

Via Andrew Sullivan comes this high quality post noting the difference between 'appeasement' and 'negotiations'. He's undecided in the election and doesn't favor withdrawal from Iraq, but finds the talk of appeasement, rightfully, preposterous.

(As a sidebar, he has Paul as one of his blogs to read ... samll world.)

Sunday Morning Meditation

In the spirit of traditional Sunday School classes, which The Wife and I do our best to scramble to get to each Sunday morning, this is a new feature at Safe As Houses.

I'm not particularly a huge fan of the King James Version, primarily because sifting through Old English isn't what I want to be doing on most occasions. But, there are some certain instances where such language presents a telling point to ponder, and such is the case with the story of the vine and the branches in John 15.

When you read the newer translations, you find that one of my favorite words has been stripped from the Gospel and, while I'm not at all suggesting that's 'wrong,' what I am saying is that it takes away a key word which helps convey a deeper meaning to the passage.

In the first seven verses, the word 'abide' is used seven times, and in the New International Version it's amended to use 'remain' ... which is hardly an objectionable word, but one that doesn't offer the same sense of fellowship or community.

Technically speaking, to abide is to conform to or acceptp without objection, and I think that speaks powerfully to the type of relationship Christ was talking about in this passage. For me, to abide means to share the heart and vision that Christ had during his ministry. It means to not merely adhere to his teachings, but to work to develop and hone your relationship with him. And, if that relationship grows, it means your worldview will change.

It means that deep and personal relationship will, in some way, grow less personal in that it will shape how you interact with your family, your neighbors and the strangers you pass on the street. Walter Shurden, the great Baptist pastor and author, wrote in his landmark word The Baptist Identity: Four Fragile Freedoms of the concept of 'Soul Freedom' and he had this to say ...

This is no effort to minimize community. It is an effort to make faith meaningful. The theme of the individual in community is a cardinal biblical theme, present in both Old and New Testaments. But salvation is not church by church, community by community, or nation by nation. It is lonely soul by lonely soul.

It's a chain reaction ... as community stems from individuals working together, and individuals can work together stemming from their abiding in relationship with God.

Woo-to-the-hoo

He's had a rough year so far, but my boy Charles Howell III is in the lead at the AT&T Classic in Duluth, so that rocks. Being busy with some IHN of Athens and work stuff, I haven't had the chance to catch any of the tournament until watching some of Golf Central a few minutes ago.

(And, yes, my traditional weekend routine is to get up at 6:30 a.m. with The Kid, watch some form of fishing show - preferably The Mad Fin Shark Sheries - and then go back and forth between SportsCenter and Golf Central.)

Crossroads

I'll agree with my buddy Martin in saying that this just might be the best version of Ice, Ice Baby I've ever heard, though I'm also terribly impressed by the inclusion of something from Paperboy's musical stylings.

Bipartisanship?

I think I disagree a little bit with Ed over the farm subsidies bill discussion. It isn't that I'm opposed to subsidies, but I am opposed to shameless political support for an idea that is somewhat outdated (our farm subsidies haven't been dramatically changed since the New Deal), as well as one that is expensive and probably has a negative impact on our overall ability to find more diverse ways to developing ethanol.

I'm all for supporting local farmers - particularly smaller family farms - but this piece of legislation doesn't exactly do that, with the vast majority of said subsidies going to help farms with incomes of more than $750,000. It also sets this year's commodity prices as the benchmarks for future subsidies, meaning it would artificially inflate the value of those payments since they would be based on the high prices for food we currently have.

And, though I'm not entirely clear on it, there's another provision that states any sugar purchased by the government would then be sold only for use as ethanol, which is an honest attempt to actually do something with this unsold product but there's a consequence as it will drive up the cost of a food product that isn't actually being used as a food product, but rather as a fuel.

I've long said that Democrats need to develop a comprehensive strategy with regard to agriculture, but this effort has me actually siding with the Bush Administration on most points.

Quality question

In his clarification, Blake wants to know where Elton Dodson is, which I think a lot of us have been asking that for some time as he's not a fan of returning emails or phone calls from his constituents.

Silliness, but not issues

Aside from a brief conversation with Flack yesterday, I really haven't followed this whole Keith Gross is or isn't a resident situation. Pretty much, from what I can gather, Mike Jacobs got nervous about actually running against someone in a district where most people think he's a traitor, and opted to get really petty and challenge Gross's residency.

Peach Pundit has followed up with some of the most circular logic and Keystone Cop antics I've ever seen, including speculating about how someone could own a restaurant in Maryland but live in Georgia. Needless to say, that after sitting on their hands for a few days, Gross appears to have cleaned everything up and, as it is rather apparent, there was nothing to the residency challenge aside from Jacobs's hysterical rantings about having to actually confront someone who might stand up to him in the general election.

Gross could have responded quicker - and he should have responded more forcefully - but this whole exercise is one of the lamer things I've ever witnessed (aside from SpaceyG's obsession with the Marta Girl/YouTube garbage).

Excellent points

This has been making its rounds around the internet the past few days, and it is high comedy. I'm not exactly a big Chris Matthews fan, and I rather detest these so-called 'talk' shows because no one actually discusses issues, opting to instead shout at each over and over again, but it's refreshing - and hysterical - to watch him absolutely humiliate conservative talk show host Kevin James.

Pretty much, James is an utter moron whose knowledge of history consists of sound bites he's picked up over the years from other utter morons. And Matthews's point stands ... Neville Chamberlain wasn't an appeaser because he talked with Adolf Hitler, but rather because he gave away half of a country he had no right to give away thinking it would satisfy a madman. His judgement was flawed because of what he agreed to and not because he sat down to chat.

More focus on Barrow

Regina Thomas's challenge to John Barrow has picked up front page attention at Open Left, which labels Barrow as one of their 'Bush Dog Democrats.' While I still bristle at some of those classifications because I think they're not fulling understanding the delicate nature of some of these races and reflect a top-down approach to picking candidates rather than a localized one, it's interesting to see this getting prominent play at one of the 'big boy' blogs in the liberal world.

It should be a good race. As I said there, I've got some personal allegiances to Barrow with him being an Athens native, member of my church and all of that, though I do like Thomas (sans Sunday Sales), so it will be a fun one to watch.

The budget

Here's why Marc Bayo Salte is wrong. If you attempt to trim the budget by shaving $15,000 here and $90,000 there, you'll never reach your stated goal, and you'll leave some departments underfunded even worse than they already are.

If you want to trim the budget, you trim the proposed salary increases and then proportionally spread that across the body of employees. Again, it ain't the best option, but it's the only feasible way to approach this as the budget has already been scoured for possible cuts and there just aren't many to be found.

And here we go again

It seems to me that either the East Athens Development Corporation has no idea how the Community Development Block Grant works, or that we're headed for something which - once again - stamps out local control in favor of inefficient top-down management.

Though I've said it over and over again, those CDBG funds are designated for targeted census tracts, and the Athens-Clarke County Commission directed said funding to that tract. The only difference is that it didn't go to a pair of organizations which have not produced the desired results the community seeks.

Plus, is Diane Dunston serious? The commission frequently parts ways with staff on certain issues, and such is a part of how things work. It's why we have an elected government that is representative of our community.

However, if Keith Heard is actually motivated to, you know, do something and HUD opts to reverse the decision ... then how is that appropriate? How does that meet the justifications for CDBG which, quite literally, is chunks of federal dollars to be allocated by the local government. If the local government lacks the ability to actually do that, then why not have HUD manage the entire allocation process?

As blunt and perhaps cold as this may sound, this is nothing but sour grapes on the part of EADC. The organization should aggressively pursue diversifying its financial base (this argument that CDBG money helps them acquire certain grants is bogus and, speaking as someone who does this kind of a thing for a living, I know that to be bogus), refining its mission and begin proving the commission wrong. Changing the rules at the 11th hour is ridiculous.

The real solution

It seems to me that the only feasible way to not raise the millage rate would be by offsetting the projected $1.7 million shortfall by cutting back on the scale of raises and benefit adjustments for public employees. Yeah, it sucks, but that seems to be the only logical approach in this situation if you want to stick to maintaining the current millage rate.

Since it's a $4 million increase allotted for raises and benefits, scale it back to $2.3 million and adjust everything proportionally. Then, as the economy picks up again (hopefully sooner rather than later), you work to get the increases back on their usual path.

Again, it ain't perfect by any means, but trimming back on glossy mailers or scrapping a much-needed probation program only saves pennies.

It's either this or just accept that you'll pay a little more in property taxes.