First of all, Nixon was not impeached. Second of all, there has not been a shred of proof that the President tried to cover up what happened at Benghazi. The e-mails, the testimony before Congress supports that the DOS nor the CIA knew what was happening as it was happening. There is now evidence that Republicans altered the e-mails, when they are compared to the originals, they changed words to make them seem more negative, but even so, there is nothing showing that anyone in the administration tried to cover up anything. And, last, as to the AP story, the DOJ was acting within their powers to take the phone records because they were trying to track a leak--something that the Repugs screech about all the time. So, Mr. Grimes, where do you get off bring up impeachment? Name one impeachable offense committed by the President.

I love to see pictures and coverage of kids doing great stuff on the front page of the paper. This type of thing-- science fairs, robot competitions--is exciting. Maybe if kids got more positive recognition for this type of thing and less coverage for their sports and gang related activities, we would see more kids interested in education.

@proftom: I, too, am older than Garland, and whiter ( red hair, freckles). Was a Repug for thirty years. Until something changes...never again. They are getting sicker and sicker.

But, but, but...Sarah Palin promised that if we were allowed to drill for oil and frack the heck out of the environment, the energy would stay at home. This (stomp feet) isn't (stomp feet) fair! Don't the Right Wing supporters of the Destructors of the Universe get it? This IS the fair, unfettered market. Huge corporations get Republicans to grant rights to drill, frack, burn coal, pollute the air, the water, wreck our food, and then, after raping the environment, send the resulting products overseas to (GASP) make money! The humanity! The horror! Grow up, stupid people.

If our "representatives" spent more time doing their jobs in DC and less time trying to block Obama, we'd all be better off.

I pay $3245 a year in property taxes. The street in my subdivision (High Ridge) has not been repaved in almost thirty years. There are cracks that are more than one inch wide in the street leading down towards our house, which is at the bottom of a hill. I worry about washouts beneath the surface causing sinkholes. I've called, no one comes out. The county picks up leaves every nine weeks. Last fall, we had over fifty bags of leaves-- this after dumping thousands of pounds in the woods on our property. We pay for our trash pick up. So, my question is, why is there no accountability for lack of services? Schools are important, but we are becoming a Banana Republic very quickly. Drive down Paris St. if you want to think you're in a Caribbean backwater. The streets are crumbling and potholes take out the bottom of your car. Where does the money go?

There goes the neighborhood! Don't the neighbors realize this idiot has no interest in being a "good" neighbor. Ignore him and maybe he'll move away, leaving things trashed and nasty.

@Junius: Very few family farms are worth more than $10,000,000.00! Today the estate tax exemption ( unified credit) is $5,000,000.00 per person, so a husband and wife, if they split their assets, titling them properly, can pass $10,000,000.00 without paying estate taxes. So stop banging the anti- tax drum, calling the estate tax the "death tax" . Maybe Glenn Beck doesn't tell you all the whole story.

I know a family with a 14 year old son who has had "behavioral problems" most of his life. He was raised by a single mom who had remarried about five year ago, and was really balking at his step father's limits. When he was about 10, he threatened his mother and was cursing her. They put the boy in the car to take him to the facility where they usually took him when he was getting wound up. Along the way they stopped because the step-father was afraid of having an accident. A police car pulled up behind them and wanted to know the problem. The boy started mouthing off about how his parents could've spank him because
it was illegal. The policeman looked in at him, determining that the child was obviously not abused and looked at the step father. He said, very seriously, that if they wanted, he could take the boy to the Gwinnett County jail. However, he said, if I were you, I'd just take him out and spank him. The policeman said, "I have a folding chair in my trunk, and I'll sit and watch you to make sure you aren't doing bodily harm. Because, son, contrary to what you may think, your parents CAN discipline you." Since then, the young man has had some minor tween issues, but has never, ever threatened anyone, and has never had to go back to the hospital for treatments.

People would hire my grandfather to dowse for wells. He never missed! Many years ago, when we were looking for a buried septic tank, I doused for it, found it spot on. There are many astonishing things in the world...

@mpd0.59: Actually it has nothing to do with the market and everything to do with the crappy banking regulations and regulators in Georgia. No state has as many closures as we do since 2008. Most of the bank presidents run for GOP offices and win. Those politicians vote to further eviscerate the regs and the beat goes on.

I love Dudley Park! However, and I know this is goofy, but the art that typifies Athens to me are the brightly painted bulldogs around town. First is all, it's a 'dawg! Second of all, the companies that display them can paint them to reflect what their businesses do. Like the Georgia Power "power line" 'dawg. What was sad to me about the installation at the Classic Center is that it was not made by an Athenian. We have a lot of talent in town, and this was a slap in the face.

@scarborj: talk about stupid...who pays for health care now in this great nation, with the "best health care in the world" now? Why do you suppose Newt Gingrich proposed a similar system back when he had a brain? He said every American should have health insurance. Neal Boortz said anyone can go into any hospital and get care with or without insurance (not true). And who do you suppose pays for that indigent care? We all do. The hospital associations and doctor groups agreed to accept less in Medicare payments ( the oft mis represented Obama Medicare cut) because they lose so much money treating deadbeats without insurance. It is sickening to see Nathan Deal, a politician that has never done anything but suck at the public teat, turn down the opportunity to help people in his state.

Both of my sons spent many years in 4-H. It's good to see someone watching out for them. Curls, you are a negative Nellie.

@tgb: When discussing billions, I'm not just talking about the $60,000,000 that was the basic cost of the hearings and Ken Starr's salary, but all the other costs, notto mention that Jim Macdonald died in prison serving time for trumped up charges. The trials for him and his wife cost over $50,000,000. All for nothing but Repubican idiocy.

It is easy to look back and say what should have been done. When the chaos is around you, not so much. There has been hours and hours of testimony about this, and the Republicans keep trying to imply that there is some massive coverup. It's like Whitewater all over again, when the Republicans spent months and billions of taxpayer dollars trying to "get" the Clinton's. in the end, there was nothing of substance. I would ask this question...if the situation was so dangerous, why did Chris Stevens go there? This was NOT an American Embassy with Marine guards. It was an "outpost" which he knew was not well protected. As I understand it, he went jogging that morning. Now, if things were bubbling up and was so apparently dangerous, as the Republicans contend, why would the one person who had a finger on the pulse, feel comfortable to be out and about? Then, when things heated up and the people far away in Washington were trying to figure out what was happening and the PROPER response, why is it so hard for you pea brains to wrap your minds around what the thought processes might be? If everywhere in that part of the world the idiots were incensed over the video tape and rioting, why would you NOT think that was the cause? Give us a break and give it a rest. Or else, focus you attention on George W. Bush who knew the truth about Iraq and lied. You're so damned worried about four American lives, what about the almost six thousand American soldiers who have died because of a real lie?

I am watching a piece on GMA about the NRA convention. One of the big speakers was Glenn Beck. One has to wonder at how any organization would choose to have an insane person like Beck be a spokesman for them. This is a crazy that espouses so many bizarre ideologies even Fox had to cut him loose. But because his special brand of religious right wing zeal attracts so many other crazies, he has his own show that he pays for out of pocket. If I am not mistaken, Glenn Beck spent some time in an mental institution. if Univeral Background checks were made law, it is unlikely he would be able to buy one. So, watching him on TV, brandishing a rifle, makes me kind of sick to my stomach. One interesting point made by Zimdars--that one about a fictional character, Rambo, having fought on the losing side...remember, the real person Sylvester Stallone is a tiny, short little man, who left the US to avoid serving in the Vietnam War, to teach at a girls school in Europe. I suspect a lot of gun use reflects this same weak, Chicken Hawk sensibility. It's sort of like penis envy for men...

@jlscott: not sure I understand...because I'm paranoid? Gun toting, anti-government whack job? Please elaborate. Do YOU believe we need to prepare ourselves to rebel against our government? Do you not find this poll chilling?

I go about my business with normal people, thinking we are a normal world, life is good...then, I stumble on a web site, or overhear some bizarre conversation, and realize that there are some seriously paranoid, crazy individuals among us. The only thing that makes me feel okay with this is that they 're easily identifiable. They come in several favors. One flavor is the overt crazy. They are usually white, wear severe, almost military type clothing or camos (out of hunting season). They dress their pitiful, home schooled kids in camo--even the babies. They have six or seven kids (trying to "outbreed the other". Their eyes are dead. Can't verbalize, at least not in English. These people have underground bunkers filled with canned goods and water, ammunition and gasoline. Have never volunteered to join the Army--indeed, the US Government is their stated enemy. They push to start a war HERE in the US. The other cohort is more subtle. Usually wear chinos and button downs. Males have very short haircuts, sometimes even wear crewcuts, trying to look military, though none of them have ever volunteered to join the Army. They are chicken haws, always pushing to start a war somewhere, not necessarily here. Usually are white, but not always. Wife is flawlessly groomed, big hair, also have six or seven kids. Better educated than the overt crazies, but crazy, never the less. Keep their guns in hiding places throughout their homes. Usually one in bedroom, one in each bathroom, which are fitted with major locks. These bathrooms are like pseudo-panic rooms. God help the person that tries to come through the door. These people are well educated, very often pastors of strange, fringe religious organizations that have splintered off from larger organizations like the Baptists or Methodists. They usually left the Mother Church over disagreements with things like letting women preach, letting "the others" into the congregation, birth control. In their eyes, women should stay
home, have babies, and keep their mouths shut. They are out there, and we should wary of them. Their paranoia leads to things like Waco, the Olympic bombings, the creepy guy that kidnapped a boy from his school bus. Now the third cohort is easily spotted. They are usually black--not always. Wear white tee shirts and baggy, saggy pants. They think everyone that is white is their enemy. They also believe they have the right to take whatever belongs to someone else--black or white. They don't join organized movement like the NRA, but benefit greatly from the policies fomented by the other paranoid, deluded fringe groups. They also cannot verbalize in English very well. They also think women should be pregnant and stupid. The only thing that makes this cohort less dangerous than the other two is that they are easy to spot, indeed, they revel in their differences.

@friendlyfire: If a fifteen year old girl engages in unprotected sex, as teens do, then, yes, she is showing excellent judgement using the morning after pill. Way better judgement than the three ( yes three!) fifteen and sixteen year old girls who came from "good families" at my church who chose to have their babies. One girl now works two jobs, and is withering, one girl was forced to marry the daddy after she graduated HS. He was a drug addict who committed suicide. The third girl is numb. The three kids? Neglected, dumb as dirt, and bewildered. Children deserve more. I am a liberal and I support abortion AND I believe in the death penalty. But I think it should be swift. Have the trial, sentence the person and terminate them within a year. The death sentence as it is used now is no deterrent. I don't see the consistency in the Right To Lifers, who love the fetus but hate the children. And most of them are all for the death penalty. Not to mention most are war hawks, wanting to invade and destroy any and all countries with whom they disagree. BTW, if you are a male, I don't think you have a voice in the matter. A girl should have access to all she needs to protect herself.

@grove600: Where do you get $20k in cash was stolen from this story?

@mcdawg: I agree! As a Financial Advisor watching the companies whose stocks and bonds I recommend to my clients, it is clear as glass which companies manipulate which politicians the most, and, without a doubt, we see the so called business men and women who are willing to destroy this country in favor of giving corporations carte blanche in conducting their business. We saw this with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney holding secret meetings with energy moguls, including Ken Lay from Enron. Shortly after those meetings, we saw energy deregulated. From there it was a quick slide to having all of the mega abuses at Enron, enabled by Bush and Cheney, to explode, destroying trillions of dollars in investors money. To my knowledge, to this day, we are not allowed access to the minutes (if there IS a record) of those meetings. Lawyers might have a bad reputation, but these a$$holes were all businessmen. Condi Rice sat on the board of Chevron, which had a tanker named after her. One has to wonder...when the CIA and the FBI gave her and Bush intelligence in the summer of 2001 that an attack from the Middle East was eminent, did she hide that intel because of the massive ramifications to Chevron if the shipping lanes
in the Middle East were shut down because the US acted to prevent the attacks of 9/11. We will never know. But give me a lawyer any day over a businessman as my representative. Oh! Add doctors to that list. Every doctor I know in GA that is a politician is an idiot.

Yet another example of know nothing "representatives" making decisions that are politically motivated. I bet the Right Wing good folks of Lima, who elect these "fiscal conservatives" are those that say "cut, cut, cut...as long as it's not my job (my program, my school budget, my Social Security)". This is why we are in a mess. There are billions to be saved by just letting the heads of agencies, the administrators of the FAA, the Secretary of Defense, the head of the USPS--people that DO know what they're doing--make their fiscal decisions. But as long as the politicians get major money from lobbyists, this will never happen.

@YoMang: That's what kills me--they act like it's their God given right to take what they want from people that work hard for what little money they have. These POS spread like cancer. Last year when pond scum stole everything from a small garden planted and tended by an elderly woman in Auburn, I just put a hex on the food! It's irrational, but it's impossible to be broad minded about this. I just hope the food causes them severe gastric distress and debilitating stomach issues for days.

Dink, I love your columns, but have to marvel at what a different world we live in. If a "huge man...with no clothes on" said a word to a child today, he would have been arrested and would still be on the sex offenders list. Did you get counseling for Alan? LOL!