[quote][b]catman[/b] -

You moved. You lose.

[/quote]

As I said, that "classic" Athens elitism.

As for me, I haven't lost a thing. Life in the OC has been pretty good. It's ACC that is real loser here.

The world has changed... it's the townies that haven't. So, keep making Athens unwelcoming, inconvenient and unfriendly. And every year, I and others like me will keep moving our business, our spending and our investment elsewhere. And the world will keep passing you by.

But hey, you'll be happy at least, and that's really all that matters, right?

[quote][b]Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass[/b] -

The more negs I get from the out-of-towners, the more I know I'm right.

[/quote]

So you intentionally make it inconvenient and uncomfortable for others, so that it can be more convenient and comfortable for you. You justify this because these others are from out of town. And then you blame them for failing to see and understand how right you are?

Yep, that's the Athens elitism that we all know and love.

FYI, I'm a resident of the OC, who still owns property in ACC and who has worked (and spent money) in ACC for the past 20 years. That may still make me an out of towner, but it doesn't make you any less wrong.

[quote][b]Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass[/b]

You mean thousands like you and Curls, who ignore more efficient and appropriate routes?

[/quote]

More efficient? Coming from Jefferson... seriously? That word must mean something different to you than it does to everyone else.

Ignorance aside though, the problem with elitism is that it seems so natural to the one who practices it. I'm sure it makes perfect sense to TJS that any inconvenience, cost, or inefficiency, foisted upon others is perfectly justifiable, so long as it serves the purpose of keeping Athens pure and unstained.

I applaud the letter writer... and see these defensive comments as a symptom of the problem. These schools, the Clarke County schools, are not good and so they are not attractive to a large portion of their community. That's why people like me, who once lived in Athens and once sent my kids to ACC schools, chose to pay for private schools or chose to move to OC.

Why are the schools so bad and so unpopular? Who knows, probably for lots of reasons. But, until the inner circle of the ACC leadership step outside the echo chamber in which they now reside, the problems won't be recognized, acknowledged or fixed. That is all the letter writer is saying and I challenge any of you whiners to prove him wrong.

This is disingenuous spin by Robin Abcarian, a clumsy effort to divert attention by throwing up all manner of unrelated facts.

The simple reality is that, for partisan purposes, a very strong arm of our government was used to bully and intimidate our own citizens. This is equivalent to the FBI spying on civil rights activists. It's the sort of tactic used by the likes of Vladimir Putin and it's contrary to the very essence of a free and open society.

An attempt at humor, I suppose. But this is no laughing matter. When a government turns on it's own people, when a president or his partisans use the power of government to threaten or intimidate the opposition, we are in deep trouble.

Let's not forget the IRS will be the agency enforcing Obamacare. What should we expect? Will democrats get their procedures approved while republicans are forced to wait? That is the way it works in Russia.

So, let's not make like of this; if what is being suggested is true, then this is a very big deal.

An interesting read on the issue of same sex marriage. Sadly, the issue transcends the simple ideas of personal belief and liberty. Apparently, for a minority of people on both sides, it's really about much more.

http://www.nydailynews.com/big-same-sex-marriage-lie-article-1.1334665?p...

@mpd0.59:

Quit your whining and grow up. The right to speak one's mind is protected by the constitution. There is no right not to be offended.

Are you suggesting that you, or someone like you, should decide what is legitimate speech and what isn't?

Why should he apologize... perhaps he believes it to be true? Is there evidence to the contrary?

This is just political correctness run amok - if you believe something then say it. If it provokes a different opinion, then debate and test it. But to apologize now, before any of that occurs? That's simply political pressure and fear.

The artist forgets, we've done a tax increase already.

January 2013, the president and congress agreed to an increase in personal tax rates in the top bracket, a limit on deductions for incomes over $300,000, an increase in capital gains taxes and an increase in the estate tax rate.

So, we've already had our tax increase. Yet, this buffoon either doesn't know it, or chooses to ignore it. So, is he ignorant or just disingenuous?

[quote][b]Curls[/b] -

Lets be sure we get our priorities straight. A red neck music venue is much more important to UGA than a another boring academic meeting.

[/quote]

Oh please, are you just looking for something to whine about? Were you looking for an opportunity call others "rednecks?" The seminar will go on as scheduled. It's just going to be in a different room. The real question is, why do you care?

[quote][b]melquiades[/b]

You talking about the part of the constitution that refers specifically to a well-regulated militia? Or are you just pretending that that's NOT what it says?

[/quote]

Time and again the supreme court has ruled otherwise. The 2nd amendment applies to individual rights, not just to a collective militia.

The 2nd amendment also connects explicitly the right to bear arms to the maintenance of freedom. So, your comments about fantasies and tyranny show you be either uniformed, dishonest or both.

[quote][b]Logical[/b]

The longest journey starts with a single step. Start outlawing guns for everyone, then as people are arrested for illegally using them, the existing guns will eventually be gone.

[/quote]

And there it is, the strategy of the left in a nutshell. The point of gun legislation is, eventually, to take away all guns.

If you see it for it is, you can understand why the right does not want to take even that first step.

[quote][b]scarborj[/b] -

I don't understand why the passengers could not be taken aboard another ship. Is there regulation about transferring passengers in open sea? Just curious....

[/quote]

I don't have a good answer for you scar. But I am an old mariner and I have consulted with a large cruise line (competitor of Carnival) and can offer some conjecture on it.

- First, it's high season and the other ships are all full. Do you want to cancel a cruise (canceling with little or no notice, on over 3,000 passengers) so that you can divert a ship to pick up these folks?

- The transfer itself is highly problematic. It's one thing to dis/embark a ship in port. But on the open sea, you've got all manner of problems, getting people into small boats, off of a powerless ship, and then onto another boat. And with 3,100 passengers, that will be a multi day process.

Given those two issues alone - and you still have to tow the ship back - it's probably best just to tow it back full.

Editorializing by me - This is a problem with these super ships. Just 20 years ago, cruise ships carried no more than 1,000 passengers. Most were in the 600 - 800 range. The bigger the load, the bigger problem is something goes wrong. It's why I'm reluctant to cruise on this new generation of ships.

Meanwhile, the definition of religious freedom from the ever-so-tolerant left is... to make room for every world religion, major and minor, by clearing every trace of Christianity from the public discourse.

@E.J.:

"Coming to the middle" isn't a plan, it's a platitude. What is your plan for compromise? I like my proposal; you don't. Okay, what your plan?

[quote][b]avenger[/b] -

You have no concept of a helping hand or lift up. Nope it's all survival of the fittest. Good luck with that. The morality and health of a nation is directly related to how that nation helps it's most feeble and vulnerable.

[/quote]

Please, you have no idea who I am or what concepts I understand. So, let me tell you what I believe; I believe that people can grow feeble and vulnerable, through lack of exercise. I believe that necessity is the mother of invention and that without needs and challenges people grow soft and unimaginative.

I believe that when you take away the consequences of bad decisions, you get more bad decisions. But from that, people learn to make better decisions. Finally, I believe that platitudes about national morality and health mask an absence of rational thought. You don't care about right and wrong; you simply want to feel good about whatever it is you think.

So, what is my conclusion? I believe the left has cultivated a dependent underclass, nourished on a doctrine of victimhood, jealousy and dependency. And I believe that empty-headed compassion, like you display, is the primary tool of that strategy. Like the useful idiots of the cold war, you modern day progressives are so smug about your superiority, when you are in large part the problem.

@avenger:

Hmmm... I don't recall saying I was compassionate. It's you that wears compassion like a crown.

I do recall saying that I'd end all subsidies today... all of them. If you'd just give up your welfare state. Now the irony is that you say my corporate welfare is the bigger number. So, you would get more than me, in my bargain. I'll still make it. We eliminate all subsidies, right here, right now.

But you won't do it. Why? You say it's because you care. I say you are liar. You won't give up the welfare state because it is the welfare state that keeps the left in power.

[quote][b]avenger[/b] -

I realize there are folks who really need help and private sources aren't enough.

[/quote]

And I suppose the fact that all those poor folks just happen to vote for your party has nothing to do with it?

Nonsense... the facts don't lie. What you want is to win and your formula is to bribe the voters with the government treasury (to paraphrase de Tocqueville).

Call it compassion, call it progressivism, call it what you like; you're only lying to yourself. Its corruption and politics, plain and simple. And we, as a nation, are getting worse as a result of it.

@avenger:

And there we have it... the root of the problem. The left does not want to compromise or solve problems. It simply wants to gore someone else's ox.

You wag your finger at excesses on the right; but refuse to see the manifest excesses on the left. I offer you a solution; you just preach at me. And yet, through your dim and bitter view, I am somehow the problem?

That dishonest, holier than thou attitude, is the root of the problem. Until that attitude changes, I will continue to vote for and to pump money into every anti-tax proposal and candidate I can find.

We'll starve the beast, if we have to. It's just sad that we have to. We could compromise; I'd give on every issue. The problem is that you won't give at all... you're simply too selfish.

@avenger:

Both problems are easily fixed, if you were but willing. Simply stop all forms of welfare, and I mean all, corporate and otherwise.

I would take that deal today. But I doubt you would.

[quote][b]avenger[/b] -

And all the angry sheeps flocked to an organization that play to their ignorance and anger.

[/quote]

Are you talking about the NOW, the NAACP, or the AAUW?

@avenger:

As expected; you duck and hide. I didn't ask if you could change things, just if you would be honest. But, apparently you won't be.

I'll admit there is corporate welfare. I'll admit we spend way too much on defense. And I'd vote to stop both.

But you'd have to agree that we've got a lot of takers. You'd have to agree that liberals feed and carry these takers, simply to buy their votes. And you'd have to agree that it is time for a change.

I'll give up the sacred cows of the right, if you'll give up the sacred cows of the left. I've made this offer over and again to my liberal friends... and to you. So far, no compromise from either. Hypocrite.

@avenger:

Then start your own thread about it. Did I say I didn't care about corporate welfare or are you simply diverting attention and changing the subject?

Let's try this; I'll give up all corporate welfare - if you qive up all the takers.

Will you make that deal or are you just another liberal hypocrite?

Thank you liberals. Your incessant, and self-serving, whining has given us a legal system run amock.