Columns

Class, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder – hard to define but we know it when we see it.  I thought about that as two events occurred in our state last week featuring prominent Republicans. In Atlanta, hundreds of friends and supporters gathered to honor a quiet man who epitomizes class, former U.S. Senator and lifelong Republican Johnny Isakson. The event raised … [Read more...] about October 3, 2021: Fractious Republicans Need To Heed Isakson’s Example

He was called “Mr. Anonymous, Jr.”  I thought about him the other day, after I read the U.S. Department of Justice has launched a statewide investigation into Georgia's prisons, focusing on prisoner-on-prisoner violence and whether the state is violating inmates constitutional rights by failing to adequately protect them.  This past week, members of the Georgia House … [Read more...] about September 26, 2021: Philip Weltner Used His Pickaxe For Public Good

Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, liberal or conservative, there is one thing that should unite one and all – how government spends your tax dollars.  In Georgia, the best way to know that is through the state’s Open Records law.  In short form, government entities, agencies and individuals using our tax dollars must – with very limited exceptions --  … [Read more...] about September 19, 2021: It’s No Secret Cognia Disregarding Open Records Law

It is hard to find much good news these days as we relive the horrific events of 9-11 that took the lives of 2,977 innocent souls in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  And then after some 2,500 American deaths, we have withdrawn our troops from that hellhole called Afghanistan.  We will now have to endure those … [Read more...] about September 12, 2021: Looking for Some Good News in These Trying Times

If you don’t know by now, I love my alma mater, the University of Georgia, the oldest state-chartered university in the nation.  I am a proud graduate and a past president of the national alumni association. I have a haughty-looking portrait hanging somewhere in my beloved Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications, where I give what I consider a rather generous … [Read more...] about August 28, 2021: Nervously Awaiting Another Football Season at UGA