Couple of things
So much has happened ...
- Again, many thanks for the well wishes for the kid's health. She's doing much better and is back to her old self, which means lots of laughing, drooling and trying to put things in her mouth. And a hearty thank you to the staff at St. Mary's. This is the third time we've been there this year, and each time we've been met with a most professional and compassionate staff.
- This editorial does a good job in wrestling with the landfill issue, which is a rather difficult issue to process. We need the space, but I also feel a strong sense of obligation - regardless of the legality of such a move - to honor the 1992 agreement. While we do need to address this pressing issue, I have a hard time in supporting a notion that would, in essence, being going back on our word with these citizens.
- Kudos to Brian for keeping the blog train going, and I hope y'all try to visit his place fairly regularly. This post on transportation ideas is quite good, particularly his call for regional cooperation along our corridors (citing the development on Epps Bridge Road as one primary example).
- Longtime Speaker of the House Tom Murphy passed away yesterday after a long illness. Murphy, at the time of his electoral defeat just a few years back, was the longest-serving legislative speaker in the nation, and is arguably one of the giants of Georgia politics. I absolutely abhorred his meddling with the Georgia High School Association, but I am quite proud of the rest of his record. Let's keep his family in our thoughts and prayers.
- We've already got four Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate, and now the rumor mill is tossing another name into the list in Jim Martin. Martin would be a very, very strong candidate, for sure, but I'm still leaning toward Josh Lanier right now (namely because he's the closest thing we have to Sam Nunn swooping in to run). Should Martin actually decide to get into this thing, I'll have to reconsider because I was a big supporter of his in 2006.
- Again, many thanks for the well wishes for the kid's health. She's doing much better and is back to her old self, which means lots of laughing, drooling and trying to put things in her mouth. And a hearty thank you to the staff at St. Mary's. This is the third time we've been there this year, and each time we've been met with a most professional and compassionate staff.
- This editorial does a good job in wrestling with the landfill issue, which is a rather difficult issue to process. We need the space, but I also feel a strong sense of obligation - regardless of the legality of such a move - to honor the 1992 agreement. While we do need to address this pressing issue, I have a hard time in supporting a notion that would, in essence, being going back on our word with these citizens.
- Kudos to Brian for keeping the blog train going, and I hope y'all try to visit his place fairly regularly. This post on transportation ideas is quite good, particularly his call for regional cooperation along our corridors (citing the development on Epps Bridge Road as one primary example).
- Longtime Speaker of the House Tom Murphy passed away yesterday after a long illness. Murphy, at the time of his electoral defeat just a few years back, was the longest-serving legislative speaker in the nation, and is arguably one of the giants of Georgia politics. I absolutely abhorred his meddling with the Georgia High School Association, but I am quite proud of the rest of his record. Let's keep his family in our thoughts and prayers.
- We've already got four Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate, and now the rumor mill is tossing another name into the list in Jim Martin. Martin would be a very, very strong candidate, for sure, but I'm still leaning toward Josh Lanier right now (namely because he's the closest thing we have to Sam Nunn swooping in to run). Should Martin actually decide to get into this thing, I'll have to reconsider because I was a big supporter of his in 2006.
posted by Jmac at 9:04 AM
5 Comments:
Hear Lanier Here...
http://www.tondeestavern.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=906
The biggest problem with the "promise" that was made to the folks about the landfill was that the people who made that promise had no authority to do so - it wasn't their's to promise. It also didn't show much foresight.
I'm sure all of them created that agreement with the best of intentions but they acted in a way that was being generous with something that they did not own - such as the future.
Now, everybody wants to play the current commission as the bad guys who are breaking their promises. Might make a good news story but it's not really the truth of the matter.
That is quite a view of the landfill and broken promises. Under anons rational, leaders need only say that earlier laid plans or promises are no loner relevant because the people who made them don’t own the future. Interesting.
And what makes good news is not the breaking of a promise. It is that this problem has been looming and all the worthless crap that became priorities instead of things like the landfill.
I think it's a far cry to suggest that I'm portraying the current commission as 'bad guys' in this scenario, but instead merely suggesting that I find it very uncomfortable to have an acting body say one thing and then go back on it.
I say this fully understanding the pressing need to expand our landfill capacity. The regional landfill is our best option, and it's a shame that we couldn't all get on the same page a few years back.
But, quite simply, a promise is a promise ... isn't it? I mean what are any of our public services if not promises from our government to provide for us? If the trash service stopped coming to your house or the water stopped pouring out of your pipes, you'd have a legitimate beef, wouldn't you?
I don't see how this is different here. You can argue that one pays for the other services, but I also like to think that one's word - even if it's the word of a government entity - is stronger than currency.
Heck, Bill Clinton's word is stronger than our current currency. But I digress.
How does government ever back away from a bad program, JMac? If every public service can be construed as a promise then every program ends up going on in perpetuity.
If Bush makes a speech and tells the Iraqis "We will never leave your country until every last terrorist is dead," then we are now 'obligated' to stay in Iraq forever?
And what if the government promises so many things to so many people that it is simply not possible, financially, to keep all of them?
All that said, I agree with you about the current landfill issue. That seems like a promise that is keepable, no matter how difficult. It is important to keep promises when you can. This needs to be a lesson to governments not to go around promising people things willy-nilly. But we all know the odds of that changing anytime soon.
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