Hidden agenda?

Mark Rice writes in his rather peculiar article that the vote for the school superintendent's new contact was 6-2. He states that John Thomas and Frank Myers voted no, but didn't explain why. In concluding this article, he notes, "None of the board’s discussion before voting on the new contract involved reasons why it should or shouldn’t be approved."

Obviously, the board had already made its decision before Monday's meeting. And since there was no discussion, it wasn't necessary to point out that Thomas and Myers "didn't explain why."

What it did was to highlight that this story was about something other than our school board's vote for a new contract.

Testostoxicity

Now you may take me as an ornery curmudgeon, but I think I have a legitimate complaint when I object to noisy vehicles. In my rural community, our relative quiet is often destroyed by some loud-ass truck barreling down our road, usually piloted by some young buck trying to impress the world with decibels.

What the heck are these jokers thinking (or not)? They suppose a louder vehicle makes them better/bigger/stronger/more manly? It’s so juvenile. Remember when we were kids and would take playing cards and attach them to our bikes so the cards would flap on the spokes and make a noise resembling a motor? Waaay cool if you were 7 or 8 years old. And the noisy motorcycles are no better. How come a small motorcycle engine makes, with the help of after-market exhaust, more noise than a giant Peterbilt? It’s all some ridiculous attempt to compensate for some inadequacies. (Perhaps they have small hands.)

I suggest law officers cite these drivers and we all try and be more considerate. That loud manly rumble that’s music to some ears is an unwelcome intrusion to us more mellow mature folks. It’s no different than air pollution. We have to share the environment and that means being considerate of others.

Remorsefully …

Hey! To the gentleman I told to "Go to h***" at Britt David Park about 11a.m. Saturday morning, I apologize.

Got it now?

You know ... even if Russia tried to influence the election, Russia couldn't affect the outcome … if Trump weren't the Republican nominee, no other Republican would have beaten Hellary. No, Trump instilled hope in American voters in 30 states to rise up and take back control of the direction of America's future. Besides, the states that elected Trump despise Russkies as much or more than Hellary, so Russia couldn't influence the election in any way for Trump.

Bad math

The Georgia Department of Revenue has trouble with arithmetic. Try to apply for a renewal of your vehicle registration, and when you want to use a credit card for the $21 renewal, you learn that there will be a 2.3% fee added. But when you go to the payment page, your fee is $4.95. It seems they slipped the decimal point one space to the right. What other magic do you suppose the DOR does with decimal points?

Entrenched pols

"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" … Let them eat cake! Rousseau attributed the quote to a narcissistic princess when she learned the peasants had no bread -- if they have no bread, how could they have cake!?

Do we need term limits on career politicians?

Why do widely disliked lifelong politicians get reelected? They serve special interests and PACs in circuitous quid pro quos. They violate tenets of their own church doctrine and the interests of citizens, but they get reelected.

Doesn't each election offer a potential term limit?

Reelection is simple child's play for an incumbent. Incumbents have greased pipelines of big money, often from out-of-district mega-sources set and locked in place. Challengers usually have small local donations. Until now, challenging an incumbent U.S. representative has cost about $2.4 million!

Locally, we have politicians nominating people from their own financial network to powerful committees, in a let-the-citizens-eat-cake move. Associates could theoretically benefit the politicians' businesses. Local incumbents are reelected without challengers to their long-term seats. They have enormous power and networks to protect their influence and future as a politician.

Don't we need electeds who serve temporarily as citizen legislators instead of long-standing insincere politicians who protect their fiefdoms?

Columbus needs a Term Limits Advocacy Group to promote local, state and federal term limits. The term limit group does not need money, just challengers to incumbents, in each Columbus Council district. And, challengers need to sign contracts to work for term limits. Facebook, Twitter and websites go a long way! Contact challengers and the votes will follow. Start now; be ready next election and all subsequent elections!

This story was originally published December 14, 2016 at 11:55 AM with the headline "Hidden agenda?."