Right-Wing antics.

This poster of Barack Obama has been going around the city of Los Angeles according to blog Black Political Thought.

Well, the right wing is circulating this. I found this on News Busters and The Drudge Report. The picture, with President Barack Obama in Heath Ledger-style Joker make-up, has reportedly starting to appear in weird places in Los Angeles and, of course, the folks putting them up don't have the guts to show their faces in public. According to News Busters, this picture also appeared in an April 25th article in Bedlam Magazine.

The Radical Republicans have grown even more extreme.

Mary Squires Announces Early Endorsements

Mary Squires, Democratic candidate for Georgia Insurance Commissioner, announced today 22 new legislative endorsements including - Sen. Emanuel Jones, Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, Sen. Horacena Tate, Rep. Coach Williams, Sen. Doug Stoner, and Rep. Freddie Sims.

“I am honored to support former State Senator Mary Squires for Georgia Insurance Commissioner because Mary has spent the past two decades fighting for Georgia families. Mary is the most qualified to be a staunch advocate for our families as we fight to provide quality, affordable healthcare, and a business friendly environment that helps bring more new jobs to Georgia,” said Senator Emanuel Jones.

"I can't tell you how honored I am at this outpouring of support from my friends and former colleagues. These are the people who are on the front line fighting every day for affordable and accessible healthcare for all of Georgia's families," said Mary Squires.

Squires was elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 1998. Squires served two terms in the State House (1999-2003) and one term in the Georgia State Senate (2003-2005). In addition to her legislative experience, Squires served ten years in the Georgia Army National Guard. Mary Squires currently is the Executive Director of the Georgia Society of Professional Benefit Administrators, Inc., a self-insured health care trade association. Squires also serves as the Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Olive Industry Association, a national agriculture research and trade association. Squires and her husband Tom West of Augusta currently reside in Atlanta, Georgia and have four children.

Hon. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield

Hon. Karla Drenner

Hon. Gerald Greene

Hon. Joe Heckstall

Hon. Sistie Hudson

Hon. Mack Jackson

Hon. Lynmore James

Hon. Nikki Randall

Hon. Emanuel Jones

Hon. Valencia Seay

Hon. Freddie Sims

Hon. Mickey Stephens

Hon. Doug Stoner

Hon. Horacena Tate

Hon. Doug Teper

Hon. Brian Thomas

Hon. Regina Thomas

Hon. Curt Thompson

Hon. Lee Thompson

Hon. Coach Williams

Hon. Don Wix

Hon. Sam Zamarripa

Obama Administration has me worried.

I'm starting to become a little concerned with what the Obama Administration is doing. Yesterday some of Pres. Obama's economic advisors did not rule out a tax increase on the Middle-Class. Now when it comes to talking about raising taxes, that's political suicide. The GOP are starting to label dems as the same ol' tax & spend liberals from the past. When Obama promised not to raise taxes on the middle-class, he could not go back on that pledge. If he does, he can forget about re-election in 2012.

The Only way I can see him getting away is to in addition cut spending & government services as much as possible. Folks are not going to accept the continued record spending & tax increases. That's not going to fly with the american people. Obama has to make some hard decisions that will either make him or break him. For his best interest, he needs to side with the moderate & conservative democrats & forget the liberals like Charlie Rangel of New York, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer & the rest of the liberals up in D.C. If he continues to let them dictate things, he will suffer in 2012.

Obama needs to get involved in the heathcare debate. He need to compromise with republicans & Bluedog democrats if wants broad bi-partisanship on healthcare. Obama needs to grab the bull by the horns & get this things done.

My thoughts as we enter August & toward the fall.

We have now entered the month of August. This is the time when candidates announce their candidacy for office, start canvassing the grassroots or set up exploratory committees. August & September are in my opinion are the key months for anyone who is thinking about running for public office, especially statewide office to decide whether or not to take the plunge.

Let's start with the Statewide races. We have 5 outstanding candidates running for governor on the democratic side:

DuBose Porter, a rural, moderate to conservative democrat from Dublin (Laurens Co.)

David Poythress, a conservative democrat who is a native of Macon ( now resides in Norcross ).

Thurbert Baker, a conservative democrat from Stone Mountain

Carl Camon, a rural, moderate to conservative democrat from Ray City

Roy Barnes, a moderate democrat from Mableton.

I like all of these candidates for governor, but only one can win. In the eary money race, Baker is the leader followed by Poythress & Porter. Camon & Barnes did not post their earnings.

But we still have unresolved races for Lt. Governor, U.S. Senate, Agriculture Commissioner.

The money was on Michael Turmond for Lt. Govenror, even I was on that bandwagon earlier in the year. But more & more I began to think that Thurmond would not run for Lt. Governor & he would instead stay at Labor Comm. given the state of the economy, or go to the top spot & run for the U.S. Senate. I wrote on this blog that democrats better have a backup plan if he doesn't run for Lt. Governor. He would have announced by now if he was going to run for Lt. Gov.

I hope to see more democratic women candidates running for office in 2010. Mary Squires is running for State Insurance Commissioner & that's it. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin would be a fine candiate at Lt. Gov, Senate, or Secretary of State. But I doubt she will run for office again.

There is Leah Ward-Sears, who stepped down as Chief Justice on the Georgia Supreme Court, State Rep. Nikki Randall (D-Macon), Roberta Mayor Becky Smith. I hope more democratic women candiates run for office in 2010. They are a big part of the democratic base & we need them to be involved in the political process.

I would also like to see some former politicians come out of retirement to run like former State Senator Michael Meyer von Bremen of Albany, former Milledgeville Mayor & State Senator Floyd Griffin, Jr, & former State Rep. Ron Borders of Valdosta make a run again for office in 2010.

My biggest wish is two of the five democratic candidates run for seats at Lt. Gov & the U.S. Senate. I don't know if it'll happen or not, but it sure would make life a lot easier for democrats come July 2010.

Incumbent Democrat Don Wix of Cobb County to face primary challenge.

SOUTH COBB - When Democratic Party activist David Wilkerson of south Cobb filed paperwork in July to run against longtime Democratic state Rep. Don Wix of House District 33 in the upcoming party primary, it was a bit unusual considering he'd finished his term as chairman of the Cobb Democratic Party only a few months ago.

The reason Wilkerson, 40, said he decided to enter the political arena was because he feels like the district is in need of better representation. For Wix, who was elected in 1998 and challenged in last year's primary, it was a reminder of how much the district is changing.

Wilkerson's announcement prompted the new party chairman, Will Fowlkes, to send out an e-mail a few days ago to party members reminding them that the "county party - and its officers - do not endorse any Democratic candidate in a contested race until after the Democratic primary is held and the results certified."

"It's unusual for a former chairman, yes, to run against a sitting Democratic legislator," Wilkerson admitted. "But, it just goes to show that obviously some deep thought must have gone into it."

The son of an Army sergeant, Wilkerson is married and has two children. He has long been involved in county politics since he moved to Cobb after he graduated from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in 1991, and became an accountant. He quickly moved up the county party's ranks to become treasurer and first vice-chairman, before he became its first black chairman from 2006-08.

Since his term ended, Wilkerson said he has traveled across the district and spoken with many residents. Their concerns about more outspoken leadership is what led him to run for office, he said.

"People want to see their legislator and want to know who that person is," said Wilkerson. "They want to have a voice in the decisions and they can only have that voice if they know who to share that voice with. In that instance, I would say there can definitely be some improvement."

Wix, 63, is married and the grandfather of three children. He is a lifelong south Cobb resident who graduated from South Cobb High School, the University of Georgia and served in Vietnam. He is the owner of Don Wix Realty, a commercial real estate company. He said the district is well represented in the Georgia General Assembly.

"South Cobb has - and as long as I'm serving it will always have - a voice that is heard loud and clear. As the treasurer and finance chair of the House Democratic Caucus, I am in a position of leadership in the House of Representatives," said Wix.

House District 33 is located in the southwest corner of the county. Macland and Hurt roads make up the northern and eastern borders of the district respectively. The city of Austell lays to the south.

It includes Mableton and the city of Powder Springs, which makes up one-quarter of the district. More than 45,000 county residents reside there, or 7.4 percent of Cobb residents, according to the Carl Vinson Institute of Government. Besides leaning toward Democrats, it's a growing middle-class community and is becoming more racially diverse. In 2004, blacks made up 34.6 percent of the population. Four years later, blacks accounted for 41.1 percent.

"It's probably the most racially balanced district in the county," said Wilkerson.

Powder Springs Mayor Pat Vaughn - a registered Republican, though her office is nonpartisan - said she has had a good working relationship with Wix over the years and that he has worked hard for her city.

Great article by Dick Pettys of The Insider Advantage

(8/3/09) At some point during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign – maybe at a number of points - the question is going to be raised, “How was Georgia better off during the last few years for having Republicans at the wheel?”

The question, of course, lends itself to a rip-roaring debate covering topics like finance, education, transportation and water, to name just a few. Republicans will have their answers. Democrats will have their counter-points. And in the end, voters – especially those who once upon a time tended to vote for Democrats but decided to try something new in recent times - will have to make up their own minds. It won’t be an easy task, but it could have been a little easier if things had gone as Gov. Sonny Perdue optimistically forecast in the early days of his administration.

Those were the days before Republicans in general and the administration in particular had learned that it’s much more fun – for dogs or politicians – to chase a car than to catch one; the days when it seemed that whatever they touched would turn to gold, and the days when it seemed the problems that Democrats had brought upon themselves would be a thing of the past because Republicans were smart enough to avoid them.

And Perdue, still in the blush of his historic victory as first Republican governor of Georgia since Reconstruction, was boldly predicting that with Republicans in the chief executive posts of all three states in the ongoing water wars, things would get settled quickly. It seemed possible.

“We’ll come together face-to-face with no staff and hammer this thing out,” the then governor-elect told the AJC in a Jan. 6, 2003 article.

But here’s a case where blood (albeit only political “blood”) is definitely not thicker than water and, as everyone knows, Republicans so far haven’t been any more skilled at solving the dispute than their Democratic predecessors. The breakdown of negotiations, the legal wrangling and a devastating, recent court ruling have seen to that.

The 2010 election won’t turn on that single point alone. But elections often turn on a multiplicity of such little points. A settlement of the decades-old water battle would have given Republicans a solid point behind their argument that Georgia was left better for their stewardship. There’s still time. But given the ticking clock and the current state of relations between the three states and the ticking clock that’s looking increasingly unlikely.

Gubernatorial candidate Carl Camon focuses on education, the economy

A gubernatorial candidate who recently visited Cartersville said the most important issues he wants to focus on are the economy and education. Carl L. Camon, the fifth-term mayor of the 200th smallest city in Georgia, spoke at city hall on July 21.

"We're working along with the department of industry, trade and tourism to help stimulate jobs, to put packages together. We see other states doing the same thing. They're working hard to get companies that will pay more than minimum wage. They're working hard to negotiate with companies over seas that want to relocate," he said in a Thursday interview with The Daily Tribune News.

"Our focus is going to be putting an emphasis on [education] to ensure that we can get those high-tech companies in Georgia to try to stimulate the economy by putting people back to work."

The current mayor of Ray City, which has about 1,000 residents, and educator of 14 years who has taught American government and special education, said education would play an important role in lowering the unemployment rate.

"There's no reason that our University of Georgia system could not prepare our citizens for companies that would like to locate here in Georgia," Camon said, adding that he also wants to restore primary and secondary education in the state.

"We've heard so many different rankings and categories that the state falls in and all of those have been at the lower levels," he said. "That's unacceptable. If given the chance to be governor, I'm going to make education my main focus. We want to do everything we can to return authority back to the classroom teacher. We want to allow teachers to be creative in the sense of working with students and giving the students the tools they need to be successful.

"We don't need to continue to cut education because if we cut education, that's like cutting the future way from our state. All the problems that we face in our society, the majority of them can be linked back to a lack of education.

"[For example], look at the crime rate. People are out committing crimes and you talk with a lot of them. [They say], 'I dropped out of school. I can't find a job. College wouldn't accept me. I was raised in a bad neighborhood.' We can link those things back to a lack of education. You find that the majority of people who have a good education do not go out and live a life of crime. They have great jobs, good opportunities and know the value of a good education."

The military veteran, who served in the U.S. Air Force and Air Force reserves for a total of more than 10 years, said there are three other important issues -- transportation, support for law enforcement officers and other emergency response agencies, and families. Camon, who entered the governor's race as a Democrat, said he would like to look at the possibility of a high-speed rail system in Georgia.

"To be honest, Georgia is behind in that area. We have great roads, but I believe considering the gasoline crisis and accidents, I think that we could lower the number of accidents," he said. "Europe has an excellent rail system and I've had the opportunity to experience that. It would be great to have."

The first African-American mayor of Ray City, who also served a four-year term as chairman on the state's County and Municipal Probation Advisory Council and on other regional and state boards, said he would like to ensure Georgia's law enforcement officers and emergency responders "have the tools to do their jobs.

"I will work hard to ensure that Georgia's law enforcement officers are not out-gunned by criminals who chose to live a life of crime," he said. "I think that drug use and abuse has increased all across our state. We had a problem in Ray City at one time with people coming in our community selling drugs.

"Instead of sitting around, we did something about it. I applied for a grant for a surveillance system and received $30,000 ... We have a system that monitors these trouble areas, [and] as a result of that, drug dealing has been curtailed."

Camon, who said he has 15 years of local government experience, several years of state-level experience on various boards and councils, and national experience with the National League of Cities, said he would also like to strengthen families.

"A lot of the problems we are facing today stem from the lack of a strong family," he said. "We're going to work with Georgia's families by educating them, [for example] to offer incentives for financial counseling. Maybe we could give a certain incentive, maybe a tax break if you would go get financial training so you would know how to balance a check book, know how set a budget, know how to train your children. Not only financial things, but a reduction in domestic violence and child abuse."

His experience as a mayor and an educator would make him the best choice for governor in the 2010 election, Camon said.

"What better person to represent education and educators than one who has spent time in the classroom, one who has experience in the classroom," he said. "In Ray City, you have first-hand experience and that's what small-town America is all about. You have people with real concerns, with real ideas and they want to be heard. And you can't hide behind big skyscrapers in Ray City, Ga. -- We don't have any. You have to meet the people head on and I think that's going to be a positive. I think I'm the only [candidate] whose been a mayor and I think I'm the only educator. I'm also the only person, other than one, who has served in the military.

"I want to bring a bold, new approach to government in the state of Georgia. I want to be able to bring government back home to the people, where everyday, hardworking Georgians can relate, can communicate with me and I can communicate with them. I've made a commitment -- over a four year period, I want to teach one class in every county during my term as governor. I've also committed to doing one other thing -- I'm going to commit $5,000 per year from my salary toward scholarships for high-school graduates just as an incentive. I believe in Georgia's children that much.

"The only promise I will make is whatever resources are available to me, I will use those resources to put citizens first."

Sixteen other people have thrown their hats into the ring, filing declarations of intent to accept campaign contributions for the 2010 Georgia governor's race, according to the State Ethics Commission. They are Daniel Emanuel Alvin, Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker, former governor Roy E. Barnes, current Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, Secretary of State Karen Handel, Robert Francis Ingram, Matthew Jamison, State Sen. Eric Johnson, Thomas R. McBerry Jr., John H. Monds, Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, Berry LaSalle Perkins, State Rep. DuBose Porter, David Bryan Poythress and State Rep. James Austin Scott.

Editor's note -- The Daily Tribune News will cover first visits of gubernatorial candidates to Bartow County when notified in advance. Interviews will be conducted on site or at our offices.