Throughout history, societies have indicated what’s important to them by the price of the fine placed on certain infractions. Nowhere in the world is enforcement of the law against blocking intersections more important than here in the metro Atlanta area. Continue reading WHY IT REALLY IS SO IMPORTANT TO STRONGLY ENFORCE THE LAW AGAINST BLOCKING INTERSECTIONS →

In today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reporter Bill Rankin writes about how Georgia’s jail-time-for-deadbeat-parents policy is creating what some, including former Georgia Supreme Court Justice Leah Ward Sears, are calling debtors’ prisons. Continue reading REFORM GEORGIA’S FAMILY LAW COURTS NOW →

The Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians, 11 people who likely have an average individual income of well over $100,000 a year, has advised the Georgia legislature that it can dig the state government out of its budget morass by making citizens pay more for their groceries. Continue reading TAX ON GROCERIES A LOSING PROPOSITION FOR CITIZENS AND LEGISLATORS →

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Ogunsola, sent me the following in response to my column “New York Times’ Friedman Woefully Wrong on Mayor Reed” (which you can scroll down to read). Continue reading ATLANTA MAYOR RESPONDS TO MY CRITICISM OF NEW YORK TIMES COLUMN PRAISING HIM →

Last week, Mayor Kasim Reed came out swinging against the mismanagement of the Fulton County Courts in a grandstanding move calculated to make the most of public outrage in the aftermath of the slaying of a state trooper.

After a year of trying to slash public safety workers’ pensions, pouring money into turning recreation centers into youth centers and schmoozing foreign royalty, Reed finally had a prime opportunity to reassert himself as a pro-police mayor by assailing the courts.

There is little argument to be made in defense of the courts. To be sure, the judges are sorely lacking in judgment. But the partner Reed chose to help him tag-team them is every bit as guilty of failing the citizens: District Attorney Paul Howard. Continue reading Mayor Reed chooses wrong partner for reforming Fulton County courts →

Thomas Friedman is said to be a brilliant man. He writes very well. But sometimes he’s completely wrong. His facts are sloppy. His word choice is misleading. In truth, sometimes his column reads as though the man is the victim of the last person he talked to, and that person must have been a flack who chatted him up over a very good lunch. Continue reading NEW YORK TIMES’ FRIEDMAN WOEFULLY WRONG ON ATLANTA MAYOR →