http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/ga-news/ en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:45:53 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050693/posts <p>A fallen soldier returned home to a hero’s welcome Wednesday.</p> <p>The body of Cpl. Matthew Phillips arrived Wednesday morning at 9:35 a.m. at Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport in Gainesville aboard a chartered jet from Dover Air Force Base.</p> <p>It was met by an honor guard from the U.S. Army, which placed the casket into a waiting hearse for the trip to a funeral home in Cumming where his body will lie in repose until a funeral on Saturday.</p> Gainesville Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050693/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:45:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050366/posts The media already have gone over the top with their coverage of Sen. Barack Obama's international man-of-mystery tour. The endless photo sessions with the troops, foreign leaders, waving crowds -- it's just the most contrived pack of junk I've ever seen. But shame on the folks running the McCain campaign. They knew this week of endless glory for Obama was coming. Their response? They tell McCain to attend a baseball game, hold another boring town-hall meeting, have his photo taken with another Bush, and visit an oilrig. Sounds like the work of strategists bound and determined to destroy their candidate.... Townhall http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050366/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:29:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044379/posts Kennesaw, GAGeorgia's 6th & 11th Districts Monthly Meeting is every third Saturday at 9 a.m. The meeting takes place at the Golden Corral on Barrett Pkwy in Kennesaw. Date: Saturday, July 19, 2008Time: 9:00 AM Repeat on the third Saturday of the month until 07/20/2008 This event does not require an RSVP. Registered users can request event reminders. Register Americans For Fair Taxation http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044379/posts#comment Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:44:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050011/posts In fact, as much as he despised Clinton, Barr thinks President Bush is worse. "What George W. Bush has done to the fabric of our constitutional government, to separation of powers, to a government of limited powers is absolutely unforgivable," he said. That prospect is greatest in Barr's home state of Georgia. Obama is already running ads targeting an untapped pool of African Americans and younger voters. State polls suggest Barr's single-digit following pulls mostly from McCain. "If Barr can win 5 or 6 points of the total vote -- it's an if but it's conceivable -- then Obama could... Los Angeles Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050011/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:46:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049476/posts McALLEN - The strain of salmonella that sickened people across the country was detected in jalapeños distributed by a Rio Grande Valley company, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported Monday. Peppers from Agricola Zaragoza carried the saintpaul strain of salmonella. This is the first time the agency found the strain in food since the outbreak was announced in June. The FDA has not determined how or where the peppers were contaminated, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. It has been testing produce from distributors all over the country. Agricola Zaragoza is recalling jalapeños it has shipped... The Monitor http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049476/posts#comment Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:52:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049331/posts Specialist Matthew Philips was killed in the attack on the base in Afghanistan on Sunday, July 13. He will be laid to rest on Saturday, July 26 at 1:00 at Coal Mountain Baptist Church in Cumming, Georgia. His body will be taken from Ingram's Funeral Home, in downtown Cumming, north on Highway 9. The church is on Highway 9, the burial will be at Coal Mountain Cemetery just down the road from the church following the service. Please join me if you can to show our support for his family and our brave military by lining the road with supporters.... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049331/posts#comment Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:37:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048311/posts “The Appalachian voting bloc will be critical in the … 2008 presidential election,” former Democratic National Committee executive director Mark Siegel says. Yet his broad statement comes with its own geopolitical caveat: location. “It all depends on what part of Appalachia you are talking about,” says Siegel. “If they live in Pennsylvania and Ohio, then, yes, without a doubt they are the key voters. If they live in West Virginia, then no, because for the Democrats that is not a state that is in play.” Appalachia is not a single state but a region that has its own unique frame... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048311/posts#comment Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:23:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048084/posts A major American city has undergone big demographic changes overnight. Will others follow? ___ There is really only one way to put it: Atlanta is becoming whiter, and at a pace that outstrips the rest of the nation. The white share of the city's population, says Brookings Institution demographer William Frey, grew faster between 2000 and 2006 than that of any other U.S. city. It increased from 31 percent in 2000 to 35 percent in 2006, a numeric gain of 26,000, more than double the increase between 1990 and 2000. The trend seems to be gathering strength with each passing... Governing.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048084/posts#comment Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:17:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047383/posts A Bainbridge man refused to be robbed when he was accosted around 5 a.m. Saturday morning. The complainant, a resident of Spruce Street, told BPS that he was sitting on his front porch smoking a cigar and drinking a cup of coffee. According to the resident, a man wearing a mask and carrying a large knife approached and demanded that he hand over his wallet. The citizen said he told the masked robber that he had to go inside the house to get the wallet. The homeowner returned, not with his wallet in hand, but instead wielding a pistol, which... The Post-Searchlight http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047383/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:07:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046772/posts Last July, Paul Broun shocked Georgia pundits when the poorly funded physician narrowly defeated a longtime legislative leader in a GOP primary for a special election in an overwhelmingly Republican U.S. House seat. Party grandees were convinced Dr. Broun's victory was a fluke and this year backed a challenge from state Rep. Barry Fleming, who hails from the district's population center of Augusta. Mr. Fleming promptly raised nearly $1 million and proceeded to throw the kitchen sink at Dr. Broun, including mailers chiding him for failing to bring home earmarks for the district. Well, Dr. Broun will be going back... The Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046772/posts#comment Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:15:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046417/posts The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will cut its workforce by 8 percent, or about 189 jobs, and eliminate all of its geographically targeted news sections as part of a cost-cutting plan announced Wednesday. Atlanta Journal Constitution http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046417/posts#comment Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:50:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046333/posts The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will cut its workforce by 8 percent, some 184 jobs, and eliminate its "geographically targeted news sections" as part of a cost-cutting plan the paper announced Wednesday. "The moves come amid an advertising revenue slump that has ravaged the newspaper industry and has been made worse by rising costs for fuel and newsprint," the paper reported. The paper reported that "job cuts, which will occur between August and October, will mainly affect the news and advertising departments at the company. They will be accomplished through voluntary buyouts, layoffs and job eliminations." The company currently has about 2,300... Editor & Publisher http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046333/posts#comment Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:24:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045668/posts Federal officials said Monday that Gwinnett is now the focal point of competing metro area Mexican drug cartels trafficking cocaine and methamphetamines due to its burgeoning Hispanic population and transportation infrastructure. Gwinnett Daily Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045668/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:18:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045413/posts Sign of the times: Atlanta road signs to be gender neutral Complaint results in Men at Work and Men Working Ahead signs being changed to read Workers Ahead Atlanta, Georgia (14 July 2008) - Call it another sign of the times. The City of Atlanta has accepted the complaint of a women's magazine editor and will begin using gender neutral language on its road construction signs. Those signs that now read Men at Work or Men Working Ahead are being replaced or altered to read Workers Ahead. The Atlanta Public Works Commissioner agreed to the change after Cynthia Good, founder... National Union of Public and General Employess(Canada) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045413/posts#comment Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:29:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045022/posts ALBANY, GA (WALB) - A Florida woman armed with some puppy love is on her way to lift some soldier's spirits. Kathy Alexander and her 13 pooches hope to bring warm fuzzy feelings to wounded soldiers across the nation. The dogs have been providing pet therapy to nursing homes for over 10 years, but in the next month they will be traveling to military bases across the country. Their first stop is Fort Benning where they hope to bring smiles to the men and woman serving our country. -snip- WALB http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045022/posts#comment Mon, 14 Jul 2008 03:24:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044829/posts For those voters who think Ralph Nader and Bob Barr are too conventional, the Green Party this weekend named former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Georgia, its 2008 presidential nominee. At the Green Party's nominating convention Saturday in at the Chicago Symphony Center, McKinney received 313 out of 532 votes cast in the first round of balloting. "I am asking you to vote your conscience, vote your dreams, vote your future, vote Green," McKinney told the convention's 800 or so attendees. "A vote for the Green Party is a vote for the movement that will turn this country right-side-up again." McKinney, a... ABC News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044829/posts#comment Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:38:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044516/posts A high school senior from Georgia won the National Right to Life oratory competition this past weekend, emphasizing in his speech how abortion “is but a branch to the Post Modernist root.” “They cannot say that an unborn child is or is not a person, because hey, it’s all relative. It may be a human to you, but not to me,” Blake Adams from Powder Springs, Ga., expressed in his entry titled “Truth.” Before winning the national competition Saturday evening in Washington, Blake had won his district competition in Cobb County, the Georgia state competition, and the preliminaries at... Christian Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044516/posts#comment Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:27:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044468/posts Two of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s children are suing their brother, accusing him of wrongfully taking money from their parents' estates. Bernice King and Martin Luther King III allege that Dexter King took "substantial funds" out of Coretta Scott King's estate and "wrongfully appropriated" money from their father's estate. The suit, filed Thursday in Fulton County Superior Court, serves as a very public fissure in an iconic family that has always professed unity, particularly as questions have swirled around some of their financial dealings. In a written statement Friday, Dexter King called the suit "inappropriate and false." "I'm... CNN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044468/posts#comment Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:44:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044066/posts Fazal Khan wanted his American-born sons to recite the Quran from memory. So he sent them to a religious school in his native Pakistan in 2004. Noor, now 17, and Mahboob, 16, didn't like it at Jamia Binoria, a prominent madrassah in Karachi, describing it as a world of black and white compared to the color of Atlanta. "I want to go home badly," Noor said in a 2005 interview that appears in a new documentary film about the school. "I think about what I could be doing and what I am doing." After four years and publicity that focused... Atlanta Journal-Constitution http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044066/posts#comment Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:35:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043930/posts Governor Sonny Perdue today announced the appointment of a working group tasked with investigating innovative ways to create long-term, comprehensive education reform to make Georgia more globally competitive. This working group...build off the work of the Investing in Educational Excellence (IE2) Task Force and review a provocative national report called Tough Choices or Tough Times to determine how Georgia might reform its education policies and practices to cause needed change for its educational system. ...focus specifically on several areas of education policy reform: Moving students to postsecondary-level work as soon as they demonstrate the necessary ability; Enhancing the quality of... WTOC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043930/posts#comment Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:05:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043096/posts BAGHDAD – Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, are redeploying back to Fort Stewart, Ga., this month. The 2nd BCT deployed in May 2007 as the fifth surge brigade.  Its mission was to block accelerants from entering Baghdad, protect the local population, defeat sectarian violence, continue to increase the capacity of the Iraqi Security Forces, foster local governance and economic systems, and to set the conditions for long-term self-reliance.  The 2nd Brigade, as part of Multi-National Division Center, primarily conducted operations southeast of Baghdad, which included population centers in Abu Waitha, Hawr Rajab, Adwaniyah, Madhariyah and... Multi-National Corps – Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043096/posts#comment Wed, 9 Jul 2008 21:54:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043077/posts Contrary to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution headline, he didn’t actually say he was innocent. He said he had done nothing wrong. That’s not the same thing. According to an earlier story on this case, he confessed to killing his daughter, and explained that he had done it to cleanse his family’s honor. When he appeared before the judge, it is unlikely that he changed this story. He just said he didn’t do anything wrong. And by the lights of the Islamic culture from which he comes, which thinks that a father killing a daughter who has sullied his family’s honor is... Cross Action News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043077/posts#comment Wed, 9 Jul 2008 20:59:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043031/posts judge Tuesday for a temporary order stopping officials from arresting anyone caught with a weapon. GeorgiaCarry.org filed a federal lawsuit July 1, the day a new gun law took effect in Georgia ajc.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043031/posts#comment Wed, 9 Jul 2008 19:09:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042653/posts Just seven months after Michael Vick was sentenced to federal prison, the fallen Falcons quarterback found himself in a "precarious financial position" and filed for bankruptcy protection. One of his creditors is the Falcons. In Chapter 11 documents filed in federal court in Virginia on Monday, Vick cites debts of between $10-50 million dollars. He also cites assets in the same range. In the court documents, Vick lists seven creditors, including the Falcons, that are owed a total of $12.8 million. The debt to the Falcons is for $3.75 million, listed as a pro rated signing bonus. The documents indicate... Atlanta Journal-Constitution http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042653/posts#comment Tue, 8 Jul 2008 23:44:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042579/posts All part of his daring master plan to make his name as widely reviled among the right as Ralph Nader’s is among the left. Polls in Georgia and North Carolina over the last two weeks show Mr. Barr winning 8 percent and 6 percent respectively of the presidential vote, and in both cases helping keep likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama within striking distance of Mr. McCain in those states — which, taken together, account for more electoral votes than Florida, Pennsylvania or Ohio… [InsiderAdvantage pollster Matt] Towery said North Carolina and Georgia are exactly the places that Mr.... Hot Air http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042579/posts#comment Tue, 8 Jul 2008 21:00:47 GMT