- Posted by Christopher Estep on November 5, 2008
According to the Secretary of State of Georgia, with 96% reporting, Chamblee has just under enough to avoid a runoff.
I took the county-by-county data to see how these remaining 127 precincts (out of 3153) may turn out. If the remaining precincts vote the way the rest of their counties did, Chamblee will end up with 49.95% of the vote and face a runoff election.
Again, this is if each the last precinct(s) in each county voted in the same percentages as the rest of the county, both in number of votes and for whom the votes were cast.
That means, if the trend is accurate, Chambliss would have needed 1,863 more votes.
I wonder how many people voted like me, for McCain but couldn’t pull the lever for Chambliss because of his porking, “Gang of 10” crap and support for the bailout. Out of 3.8 million votes, I think it’s very likely that a mere 2,000 people refused to vote for him on principle.
And if there’s a runoff, I still won’t be voting for him. I’ll not vote in the runoff.
You made your bed, Saxby. I hope you’re enjoying this. Exit polls are showing that over half of nationwide voters opposed the bailout. Good job.
Hey, Johnny [Isakson] , are you watching this? You’re next.
- Posted by Christopher Estep on November 4, 2008
I’m a conservative, a real one. Not a John McCain conservative. A “John McCain” conservative is like a “Rosie O’Donnell Diet Plan”. They just can’t exist in the same space without causing the universe to collapse on itself.
I’m not a “Bush Conservative”. There’s no such thing as that either, be it George W. or George H.W. Bush. Neither one were conservative except on a certain few issues.
I’m not even a Newt Gingrich conservative who tries every day to continue to be relevant, even though he never will be again. He was a great Speaker, but he needs to ride into the sunset.
I’m just me. I’m Christopher Estep and I’m a conservative. I have strong principles (tempered by pragmatic reality) and I stand by those principles both in my life and how I vote.
Saxby Chambliss will not be getting my vote as a matter of principle, and unless something changes in the next few years, neither will Johnny Isakson.
I realize that they both are generally conservative, but they are part of the huge problem in the Republican party and that problem is that they don’t know the difference between “bipartisan” and “give them what they want so we can look ‘reasonable’”.
When Chambliss proposed and then defended this “Gang of 10” deal that would allow a token space to drill oil offshore in return for massive tax increases on the same people, I had enough. He championed the 3/4 Trillion bailout.
I want a conservative in the senate like Inhofe who will tell people like it is and then stand by it. I’m tired of the same old porkers like Saxby Chambliss who think that the two things you need most to be a good senator is to look like you’re bipartisan and to bring “home” as much taxpayer money as you can, even if it’s not in the National Interest.
So, I won’t be voting for Saxby, even though the Democrat attempts to unseat him and their tactics have really ticked me off.
But before all you Commucrats get excited, I’m not voting for Martin, either. I just refuse to be responsible for sending another porker like Saxby Chambliss back to Washington. We need new blood and we need genuine conservatives, not these wimps like Chambliss, Bush, and McCain who have tainted the very label of conservative by telling people that they are one and then acting like a democrat.
- Posted by Christopher Estep on September 29, 2008
At 7:00 on a Friday evening, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency, specifically aimed at the then-imminent gas shortage created by Hurricane Ike. It states:
Hurricane Ike has caused a natural disaster throughout much of the Gulf Coast region, thereby adversely affecting the motor fuel supplies to the State of Georgia
This much is true. Not much to argue about there.
Price gouging related to motor fuels is detrimental to the social and economic welfare of the citizens of Georgia;
Wow, that’s a pretty broad, blanket statement. It’s also the beginning of a straw-man argument. It has made a statement with an air of authority such that it is assumed to be a foregone conclusion. It does so by using a negative term such as “gouging”. I contend that this statement is not only false, but rather is the exact opposite of the truth.
Wholesale and retail gas prices have substantially increased in some markets in recent hours
This much is true. As stated in the first part of the declaration, motor fuel supplies have been adversely affected. But again, the context implies that the increase in prices is, by definition, a bad thing. It’s actually not. It’s simple and basic economics. Supply goes down so the price goes up until the demand reduces to match supply. That’s what a free market does!
In the light of these circumstances, and to protect public health, safety and welfare, it is necessary to prevent price gouging using the authority vested in the Governor
The simple fact is that the legal prevention of so-called “price gouging” is not only unhelpful, but it exacerbates the problem and is injurious to public health, safety, and welfare.
A common phenomena that is happening here in the metro Atlanta area is that people are “topping off” their tanks, getting 4 to 8 gallons at a time whenever they see a station that has gas. All authorities, governmental and non-governmental, recognize that this is making the situation worse.
It’s common to pass 5 stations with no gas and then find a station with gas and a line of 20 cars or more. News organizations have done endless interviews with patrons who admit that they don’t need the gas at the moment, but are buying it just because it’s available and they understandably don’t want to get stuck without gasoline. The problem is that there’s no reason (other than time) not to do it.
The free market needs to be allowed to take care of the problem itself. Currently, gas is selling for around $4.19 a gallon and station owners are prohibited from making a higher profit than what they made before September 12, lest they be charged with “gouging”. The problem with this approach is that it doesn’t take into account that the gas stations are also suffering from short supply and while they may have a specific profit-per-gallon allowed, on a weekly basis they are way short and have no way to make it up.
People buy gas when they don’t need it because it doesn’t hurt enough. If the price of gas rose significantly during the shortage (as you would expect to happen in the first place), people wouldn’t be as likely to get gasoline every time it presented itself and would conserve as much as possible. The 4 gallon fillups would cease. I know personally that if I were paying $8 a gallon, I would do so gladly to fill up but I would wait as long as possible in hopes that the shortage would end. But as it stands, I will be topping off after I use up 5 gallons or so because I don’t want to risk going days without being able to get gas when I need it, which is what happened a week ago.
I was unable to locate gas without a long line when I was on empty. Why? Because people were panicking and buying gas whether it was needed or not.
The unseen danger is that of what could best be termed as “gas rage” a first cousin to “road rage”. People get very testy when they’ve been sitting in line for 25 minutes and someone cuts them off and gets ahead of them. I’ve seen it. Tempers flare and sooner or later someone’s going to get stabbed or shot or beaten down. How is that good for the public welfare?
The market needs to be allowed to discourage people from hoarding. The root problem is that price controls were put into effect when there isn’t even a shortage. Nobody has ever said that there’s a gas shortage. We have enough gas. The problem is that it’s not plentiful and abundant. A state of emergency was declared when one did not exist.
Price gouging, as they try to call it, is actually price meeting demand. It isn’t the hurricane that caused these lines, it’s the government.
- Posted by Christopher Estep on September 19, 2008
Vice President Dick Cheney will be at the border of Georgia and Tennessee today.
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney will speak in North Georgia today. He will be the guest of honor at the 145th Battle of Chickamauga opening ceremony Friday in Walker County.
Cheney will offer his own personal recollections of the war as well. Ok, I made that last part up.
- Posted by Christopher Estep on August 25, 2008
Here in Georgia, we're being hit by the residual effects of Tropical Depression Fay. On insurance forms and school handbooks, this type of event is referred to as "an act of God." Well, God left a message for former president Jimmy Carter:
A family member says an oak tree struck the Plains home of former President Jimmy Carter as Tropical Storm Fay moved through southwest Georgia.
One of the former president’s sons, Jeff Carter, says the tree
struck the house Saturday night just above the living room. He says
both his father and his mother, Rosalynn Carter, were at home at the
time but neither was hurt.
Clearly, this attempted assassination by God was initiated by Dick Cheney and his croneys at Haliburton as well as G. H. W. Bush's old friends at the CIA. Where was the secret service when this happened? Why did they do nothing to stop this storm? Obviously, they were called off by Bush himself. That evil man! Certainly, it was only The Anointing received by The Obamessiah that protected Carter in his time of need. Is there nothing that Barry can't do?
The former one-term governor and one-term president will be speaking tonight at the democratic National Convention in Denver entitled, "I am a senile, bitter anti-semite and so can you."
Ex-president Carter, don't you think you need to talk to God face-to-face and work this out? I'm just saying...
- Posted by Christopher on August 21, 2008
This just in:
Former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn appears to have dropped from the running to be Barack Obama’s vice presidential choice.
The Georgia Democrat will be traveling out of the country until
Monday, his spokeswoman said Thursday. Obama is scheduled to appear
with his running mate in Springfield, Ill., on Saturday.
I don't think he had much of a chance anyway. There was no real indication that he wanted it and in spite of what people were saying, Georgia was never "in play" for Obama.
- Posted by Christopher on August 17, 2008
Once again, the AJC has chosen to use its headlines to cast police activity in a negative light:
Looks like a real travesty, doesn’t it? When you read that, what’s your first assumption? You assume that the article is about how the police shot an innocent bystander who just happened to be at the scene of the crime.
A silent alarm was tripped, and when the responding officer arrived, the boy fled on foot toward a minivan registered to his mother, Bolton said. After a brief tussle, the youth allegedly jumped into the vehicle, threw it into reverse and nearly hit a second officer who had just arrived.
The second officer’s patrol car was hit, and the first officer fired at the teen, hitting him “more than once,” Bolton said. The boy was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston and is expected to recover from his wounds.
In other words, officers shot a burglary suspect who was trying to murder them. But you won’t read that in the main stream media, will you?
- Posted by Christopher on August 2, 2008
Not that it wasn't expected, but the Obama campaign has just opened 5 offices in Georgia.
The five offices are the first to open in the state, kicking off a grassroots effort in the state.
The
offices are in Atlanta at 1080 Spring Street, on Prince Avenue in
Athens, on Mt. Zion Road in Jonesboro, on Concord Road SE in Smyrna and
on Adair Street in Valdosta.
Staffers will try to recruit supporters and organize them in the communities.
Ok, I realize that I'm not as smart as the media, but the last I head, "grassroots" didn't mean "started by, paid for, and sponsored by the super-wealthy campaign".
It doesn't surprise me, but more evidence of the "in the tank" media, especially here in Atlanta.
- Posted by Christopher Estep on July 26, 2008
Since this happened nearby, I just had to post it. Besides, how can you not stop and stare at white trash fighting at a Waffle House?
This is relevant because he pled guilty and got the usual anger management, community service, etc.
Stop and stare, everyone! It’s a train wreck!
- Posted by Christopher Estep on July 16, 2008
Former congresswoman and all around nutjob, Cynthia McKinney is the Green Party nominee. The funny part? She’s not even on the ballot here on Georgia.
CHICAGO — Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney reassumed the national political stage Saturday, winning the presidential nomination of the Green Party of the United States at the party's national convention here.
Amid chants of "Paint The White House Green" and signs proclaiming, "Truth. McKinney 2008," McKinney revved up a crowd of about 350 Green Party delegates from 38 states who elected her on the first ballot.
McKinney wins Green Party nomination | ajc.com