Tunica Mississippi 1985: A Tale of Two Different Worlds in One City

The South And It's Identity Under Scrutiny

The South is the essence of what makes America unique and original. Everything from Nascar to Barbeque can trace its origins back to the South. The South is under attack because it is the last region of the nation to resist being homogenized into people who think alike, sound alike, vote alike, buy alike. Nothing angers politicians, marketers, pollsters, and the politically correct crowd more than a group of people who absolutely refuse to get into line.

While the South has always been rebellious, these days it’s become a cultural battlefield where the whole concept of southern history is under attack. Displaying the Confederate battle flag, preserving Confederate statues on public and private property, even singing the song Dixie are under fire as "divisive," "racist," "hate-filled," "bigoted," and every other PC description imaginable.

Southern culture is one where you know and help your neighbors and take care of your family without asking the government to do it for you. It’s still a place where people believe in friendliness and good manners. Southerners still believe in God and his role in their lives. Southerners have more in common with each other than we have with natives of other regions. What unites us is a common sense of place — an understanding that the soil under our feet was cultivated by our ancestors and kept strong by our heritage. Southerners will still do anything to help a friend. Southerners have no pretenses about themselves. And there is no more broad dividing line than grits, sweet tea and barbecue.

The South is not the dark, dangerous, uneducated, backwards place that the media & left wingers and movies make it out to be. Not only is the South the nation’s cultural center, but it is the friendliest place to live too. That’s one of the main reasons its population is growing and its economy is booming. If you are from the South, fight the myths and fight the politically correct crowd who wants to destroy the memory of the Old South and make your region into something that it is not and never has been. Southern history and Confederate history is something that should be studied not erased. People in the South are fiercely proud of where they come from. Obliterating southern history means we lose the lessons we learned from its triumphs, and failures.

Georgia Dems, Carter, Nunn, Barrow and the Future

Despite all of the hope and enthusiasm from Georgia Democrats, Tuesday night was a reminder that more work needs to be done in order to be competitive again here in the Peach State.

The biggest problem facing Democrats here in Georgia is their inability to attract white voters and having a message that can appeal to moderates and conservative democrats....plain & simple! Forget Independent Voters because there are no such thing as a TRUE independent voter....most lean either to the democrats or republicans.

Nunn and Carter got under 25% of the white vote, which is not enough to be competitive statewide int he near future. On the bright side, they got close to 30% of the black vote, so despite all the talk about black voters not turning out, they did this year despite voter turnout being at a record low across the country during Tuesday's election.

For all the talk about demographic changes and registering more minority voters they need to do a better job at attracting those who are already registered to vote, black and white. Too much they rely on urban and suburban areas of Atlanta, Lilburn, Albany for their votes and very little on rural, mid-sized areas of Fitzgerald, Swainsboro, Douglas, thus leaving huge swaths of the state to the GOP.

Look at the state legislature, democrats have done a poor job at candidate recruitment on the house and senate side and that starts with the leadership in both chambers. That needs to change and change soon and that starts with electing new leadership who knows that leaving 80% of the republican legislature unchallenged is not good for the state, nor the party. Now is the time for Rep. Scott Holcomb, yes I'm talking to you, to run for minority leader and to locate potential democratic candidates to add to a democratic house caucus that's (with the exception of a dozen legislators) made up of 'Dead Weight" or "Seat Warmers".

Michelle Nunn ran a good race, but she ran the type of race that made National Democrats proud, but on the flip side, this is still the south and this is still Georgia and she didn't put enough emphasis on Georgia and too much on National Issues. Even Rep. Jack Kingston said she didn't exert enough independence from the National Democrats and looking back on it, he's right! That Ferguson mailer did have a negative impact on both Nunn and Carter thus their white support fell below 25%.

DuBose Porter should run for the 12th Congressional District in '16, if he decides to bypass a full four year term as head of the Georgia Democratic Party. Porter came in under tough circumstances to rebuild the state party that hit rock bottom and now is a viable and fully functioning party. And there's always 2018 in which Porter will be in his 60s.

I for one do not see Nunn running for political office again. That's the feeling I get, but who knows.

Jason Carter also ran a good race, but you have to give the Deal Campaign credit for highlighting his experience, which I think hurt Carter towards the end. Why Carter didn't run on expanding medicaid is a question only he can answer. That was a winning issue, but he made very little mention of it. Everyone assumes he will the front runner for governor in 2018, but you better look out for Kasim Reed and possibly John Barrow.

And speaking of Barrow who I call the smartest politician in the entire state, I didn't expect to see him go down to Rick Allen who ran on absolutely nothing, except tying Barrow to Obama, just like Austin Scott who also ran on nothing when he defeated Jim Marshall in 2010 by tying him to Nancy Pelosi.

Barrow is the wildcard here because he has options. He gets to sit back and re-charge his batteries for another "likely" run for office...either for the U.S. Senate in 2016 or for a statewide office in 2018. And it's a longshot, but Barrow could be on a list of possible VP contenders for Hillary Clinton.

Another is Kasim Reed. You know and I know he's going to begin to lay the groundwork for a potential 2018 race. And look over to Columbus, Ga where Teresa Tomlinson (D) will be someone who may look to move up the political ladder if she has a successful second term as mayor of Columbus.

"Biased" - Michelle Nunn For U.S. Senate

With the Georgia Bulldogs on a bye week and no new news regarding the Todd Gurley situation (who I say will play against Florida next Saturday), the Nunn for Senate Campaign unveiled a new television ad, featuring former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA), father of candidate Michelle Nunn. Take a look, it's a good ad. With a series of polls showing Nunn now leading David Perdue, the Nunn campaign has the wind at their backs now heading towards November 5.

Chris Irvin Goes after Gary Black in New Radio Ad

​(D) Chris Irvin who's challenging (R) Gary Black for Agriculture Commissioner is up with a radio spot slamming Black over Georgia's Food Safety and the Skinny Dipping episode that occurred at Lake Blackshear last year. Listen to the ad below:

 Chris Irvin-Agriculture Commissioner-GA 'Safe Food 2'-(2014-10-17)-mix-REV1.mp3

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Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Debate- Chris Irvin (D) v Gary Black (R)General (2014)

Candidate Spotlight: Dylan Patrick (D-Cartersville)

The Democratic Nominee for GA House District 015 is Dylan L. Patrick. Dylan is a Georgia native who grew up his whole life in Bartow County. He is one of the youngest candidates running on the November ballot in North Georgia at 26 years old, but that isn’t stopping him from thinking for himself. Patrick is a self-funded conservative leaning candidate although he is a loyal Democrat, pointing out he has been helping reorganize the county’s local chapter since 2010.

Dylan Patrick

"I feel like one of the most effective things someone can do if they want to be conservative for the interests of the middle class is to run on the Democratic ballot locally and reject all special interests says Patrick".

"The Republican Party is run by the donations of large, monolithic corporations, if not monopolies themselves. They sometimes stay true to their pledge to find savings in government or cut taxes, but that saved money and those tax cuts always go back to their largest contributors instead of the people. The middle class today is shrinking. Georgia has the highest unemployment in the nation. The state continues to lose more private sector jobs. Republican leaders here are having major ethics problems that reflect negatively on possible new business investment. They are unable to adequately fund education, causing local tax hikes here in Bartow and across the state while state tax rates remain level.” Patrick has been working since he was 16 years old, starting at a local family owned restaurant where he worked up from waiter to cook, and eventually helped manage the establishment. Dylan subsequently started his own small business in mobile vending, operating on the streets of Rome and Cartersville where he says he came face to face with the effects of poverty. Dylan went to Woodland High School and attended Georgia Highlands College where he plans to finish obtaining a degree in political science after the campaign season".

He now runs his own business, Paper Industry Communications Inc., based out of White, Ga., as an independent contractor for the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) headquartered in Norcross. Patrick believes his work producing the association’s newsletters relating breaking news in private industry will allow him to better understand how to help Georgia’s forest industry in the legislature, including possibly looking into a plan for harvesting state bio-mass (wood waste) potential for use as an in-state alternative fuel (cellulosic ethanol) for government vehicles, a plan Patrick says could save the state considerable expenses in the long run at the same time it creates in-state jobs and helps sustain rural economies. Patrick advocates for broad-based tax reform as opposed to limited, special interest tax breaks he believes are prone to abuse and corruption by legislators passing our budget. He would like to see a law passed allowing vehicles valued under $8,000 to be exempted from the new up-to 9% up-front value tax by having the option to go back to using the much cheaper yearly system for older cars.

Patrick says it is a regressive tax hurting our state’s poor, those who struggle with transportation, as well as middle class owners who would otherwise be able to sell their automobile on a healthier private market. Dylan would also like to see the state additionally aid municipalities the amount equal to what they get from their local sales taxes on groceries. He points out that the majority of U.S. states have absolutely no state or local taxes on groceries and that this is another tax that hurts specifically middle income families who are not wealthy and who also do not qualify for federal aid programs for tax-free food.

Patrick vows to work towards refunding K-12 education to full QBE standards so as to avoid local counties having to raise tax millage rates to bail out their systems even in non-recession years. He points out the state GOP continued to defund education in the bull market years of 2005-2007 and says their argument about needing austerity is far from being about the national economy which is continuing to slowly improve. Dylan says if we continue to have economic expansion, or even successfully avoid another major contraction in the national markets anytime soon that could affect state revenues, we should work to re-fund HOPE grants for technical colleges and expand the HOPE scholarship closer to what it was when originally passed under Governor Zell Miller. He doesn’t believe the Republican Party in Georgia ever has a vision to do so, no matter how well the economy performs.

This is his first run for political office. Dylan Patrick would be a much needed fresh voice of independent reason in the state legislature representing Cartersville and southeast Bartow County.