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Some Chattooga (GA) High School students paid $50 in advance for their 2009 yearbook, but when they picked it up last week, four pages were cut out, literally. They were told the pictures were inappropriate. We wondered, how bad could they possibly be? What type of photos were so scandalous, they had to be removed from an already-printed school yearbook? The 2009 yearbook was delivered to students, two months late with pages 11-14 clipped out. The books arrived at Chattooga High in early September, but are just now going out to those students who had purchased them last year. On...

An archaeologist says excavations in southern Georgia have turned up beads, metal tools and other artifacts that may pinpoint part of the elusive trail of the 16th-century Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Dennis Blanton of the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta was scheduled to present his findings Thursday to the Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Mobile, Ala. Excavations since 2006 in rural Telfair County uncovered remains of an Indian settlement along with nine pea-sized glass beads and six metal objects, including three iron tools and a silver pendant. Blanton says the artifacts are consistent with items Spanish explorers traded...

TBILISI -- The chairman of Georgia's opposition Labor Party is in Washington to discuss Georgian-U.S.-Russian relations and the recognition of Kosovo and Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, RFE/RL's Georgian and Russian services report. Labor Party Secretary-General Joseph Shatberashvili told RFE/RL that the main goal of Shalva Natelashvili's visit to Washington is "to start a dialogue with Moscow and Washington� on Moscow’s recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Washington’s recognition of Kosovo. Shatberashvili says that Labor Party leaders believe that if Washington would revoke its recognition of Kosovo's independence it would cause Russia to reconsider its decision...

Memory cards in seven voting machines were unintentionally left in Atlanta precincts Tuesday night, in a poll worker error that election officials say is not expected to affect the outcome of any race. Fulton County Board of Elections Director Barry Garner says he expects to gain access to the memory cards Wednesday morning and tally the remaining votes. Garner says poll workers in the seven precincts were in a hurry and did not ensure that all the cards were removed from the machines. He called the oversight unacceptable and said his office would put procedures in place to prevent such...

When the votes are counted Tuesday, the State Senate’s 1st District might have seen its first seriously contested election since 1992. One thing is certain: It will be the first election there since 1994 with no incumbent on the ballot. Not that the candidates are political rookies: Buddy Carter recently was in the state House and Billy Hair chaired the Chatham County Commission for eight years. Carter and Hair are Republicans, which is no coincidence. Shifting boundaries and political loyalties have made the lst – which takes in Bryan County and parts of Chatham and Liberty counties – a GOP...

An Iraqi immigrant accused of running down his daughter in Arizona with his car because she was becoming "too Westernised" has been arrested in Georgia, authorities say. Jim Joyner, a spokesman for the US Marshals Service in Atlanta, said on Friday that Faleh Almaleki was arrested when he arrived at Atlanta's airport. He had been sent from the United Kingdom after authorities denied him entrance. Almaleki, 48, awaits extradition to Arizona and will face two counts of aggravated assault, according to Peoria police. He is accused of striking and then running over his 20-year-old daughter and a family friend with...

October 28, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: Eleven Members/Associates of Ummah Charged with Federal Violations One Subject Fatally Shot During Arrest United States Attorney Terrence Berg, Eastern District of Michigan, Andrew G. Arena, Special Agent in Charge (SAC), Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI), Detroit, Michigan, and Police Chief Warren Evans, Detroit Police Department (DPD), Detroit, Michigan announced a federal complaint was unsealed today charging Luqman Ameen Abdullah, a.k.a.Christopher Thomas, and 10 others with conspiracy to commit several federal crimes, including theft from interstate shipments, mail fraud to obtain the proceeds of arson, illegal possession and sale of...

Authorities hoped to enlist the aid of a UPS manager in intercepting a package of marijuana. Instead, investigators say, the manager took matters into her own hands. Rather than let police know a package in her store contained suspected drugs, Anna K. Wright of Atlanta is accused of stealing the pot, selling it, and then lying about what she did. According to the U.S. District Attorney's Office, Wright, 33, was alerted that a package could arrive for a particular mail box. When it did, authorities wanted Wright to contact them. A package did arrive. But Wright apparently decided to take...

Hundreds of people have been arrested in Texas and around the country what officials say is the largest single strike at a Mexican drug cartel in the U.S WASHINGTON (October 22, 2009)—U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calls the arrests of more than 300 people in a series of drug raids in Texas and across the country the largest single strike at a Mexican drug cartel operating here. Holder said at a news conference Thursday that the arrests over the past two days were aimed at the U.S. operations of the La Familia cartel. Click here to find out more! Holder...

The case for supporting Georgia is fundamentally based on American ideals. "The leader of the free world does not abandon its friends," Mr. Bakradze told us. "American diplomacy is more than European-style realpolitik. Yours is a country of values. We share the same values. They are worth defending." "In the end, America stands for something," he said. We fervently hope that this is still true.

A top Chinese general will visit the United States this month and tour major U.S. bases as Washington seeks to improve relations and reduce the risk of conlict, offi

It took 9 years to complete the Haitian monument in Franklin Square, but it took 230 years for the people of Haiti to receive the proper recognition for their role in the Revolutionary War. "The best moment in my life!" shouted Daniel Fils-Aime, who has seen this project through for those 9 years. "This recognition is a reward for all Haitians whether they are in the U.S. or Haiti," said Ralph Latortue, the Haiti consulate general in Miami. The monument was originally unveiled unfinished with only four statues in 2007, but thanks to a single-donor, the sculpture was recently completed,...

The U.S. Justice Department has denied Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel’s appeal of its decision to reject Handel’s plan for verifying voters’ citizenship. Handel, a 2010 Republican gubernatorial hopeful, asked the department in August to reconsider its decision to reject the system. The Justice Department in May said the verification program is frequently inaccurate and has a “discriminatory effect” on minority voters. The decision meant Georgia had to halt the citizenship checks, which Handel launched in 2007 in response to the Help America Vote Act. That federal law required states to verify voters’ identity, but not necessarily citizenship. Handel...

HILLARY CLINTON’S words of support for Georgia during her visit this week to Moscow did little to calm fears in Tbilisi about Russia’s intentions in the turbulent Caucasus mountains. Two of Russia’s most powerful men sent shivers through Tbilisi during the US secretary of state’s stay in Moscow, with statements that fuelled worries the Kremlin’s fight with rebels in its own restive Caucasus republics could spill into neighbouring Georgia. The struggle between Moscow’s security forces and militants, once confined to Chechnya, is equally intense in two other Russian regions, Dagestan and Ingushetia, where police and soldiers come under daily attack...

Sandy Springs police have arrested abortionist Daniel E. McBrayer, 58, on charges of punching a woman in the face during an afternoon "road rage" incident last Monday. Regina Ordaz says that McBrayer got out of his car at the intersection of Roswell and Abernathy roads, walked up to her car as she was stopped at a red light, and struck her in the face. Ordaz says she thought that McBrayer was going to ask her for directions or tell her that something was wrong with her car. She also says that McBrayer had cut her off several blocks previously, but...

Congressman Dr Paul Broun will be on FOX Strategy Room Live Today at 4 pm Eastern time...

This week's much-anticipated European Union-commissioned report into the causes of the Russian-Georgian war of August 2008 predictably spread the blame for the conflict around. ...Yet anyone who bothers to read the document will find that the Tagliavini Commission apportions the overwhelming part of the responsibility for the conflict on Moscow. In fact, it rejects practically every item in Russia's version of what supposedly happened last year. .... The report details the extended series of Russian provocations, accelerating in the spring of 2008, that precipitated the war. .... As will be recalled, Russia variously claimed it was protecting its citizens; engaging...

We Are All Georgian (Aggressors) Now By Doug Bandow on 10.1.09 @ 10:02AM Last year the impulsive authoritarian Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili presented the meme that his was a heroic government victimized by the evil Russians. American politicians like Sen. John McCain rushed to the Georgian standard, declaring that "We're all Georgians now." Make that "We're all Georgian (aggressors) now." Yesterday the European Union provided additional evidence that Georgia actually started the war. Reports the BBC:As a European Union report into last year's conflict between Georgia and Russia puts a large part of the blame on Georgia, the BBC's Tom...

Mosley drops bid to be challenger to U.S. Rep. John Barrow Vidalia doctor was preparing quest to challenge Democrat John Barrow A Republican who said he'd spend $500,000 of his own money in an effort to oust U.S. Rep. John Barrow in 2010 has quit the race. Wayne Mosley, a Vidalia doctor and former Army lieutenant colonel, e-mailed the news to his supporters Thursday. Mosley widely had been considered the strongest of three GOP would-be challengers to Savannah Democrat Barrow. "I think so," said Savannah political consultant David Simons, "especially because of the money." During the past two years, Mosley...

A recent report of an ancient textile facility, of sorts, is turning heads.[1] Sifting through the debris on a cave floor in the Republic of Georgia, scientists recently discovered evidence that the early cave dwellers processed textiles in the cave. While searching for ancient pollen grains, they found tiny flax fibers in the dirt. Some of these fibers were woven, some were cut, and some were dyed black, gray, turquoise, or pink. They also discovered evidence that these people were processing fur (for clothing) and animal hides. What is surprising about the find is that this was supposedly happening 30,000...

After Russia invaded the Nation of Georgia last year, Senator John McCain quickly condemned the action by the Russians, and declared that we are all "Georgians" today. Considering we have had at least two freedom movements in the past eight months which have been ignored by Obama, that should have been reason enough to support McCain in the Presidential election. Obama at first blamed both the Russians and the Georgians in an utter disregard for the Nation of Georgia, a small yet staunch ally of the United States, after several days of being called out by John McCain, Obama quickly...

From RT on YouTube: A new EU report may finally answers the question as to which country started the Russo-Georgian war in August 2008. The European Union conducted a nine-month investigation into the issue and has concluded that it was Georgia, more specifically Saakashvili, who triggered the conflict. So why was the U.S. Government, along with the mainstream media, so intent on blaming Russia for the war? And what will these new revelations mean for Georgian relations with the United States and Europe? RT's Dina Gusovsky talks to Tsotne Bakuria, former member of the Georgian Parliament.

...There was this old Buick, a big late 60’s road yacht, crammed into the back of the trailer. The man and wife inside were hurt although not terribly so. But behind them was the little Datsun pickup truck (remember those?) that had hit the Buick hard enough to shove it into my trailer. The two girls inside were badly injured. The driver’s forehead had been essentially peeled back and the flap of skin was hanging down over her face. I eased it back into place and held it there to slow her bleeding until an ambulance arrived. The other girl’s...

Czechs are used to betrayal by their Western allies. It was at Munich in 1938 that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sealed their doom in exchange for a piece of paper promising "peace in our time." The fact that this further gutting of missile defense came on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on Sept. 17, 1939, is an eerie coincidence. "Just after midnight I was informed in a telephone call by President Barack Obama that (his) administration had decided to pull out from the planned missile defense shield installations" in the Czech Republic and Poland, the...

According to the National Weather Service, over 20 inches of rain has fallen on the Metro Atlanta area since Friday, and the subsequent flooding has closed schools and highways. Douglas County, GA, has declared a state of emergency, and people throughout the area are nervously watching the next line of storms heading east from Alabama. Through it all, some of the residents are comforted by their faith in the federal government. As emergency workers, work details, and homeowners begin to try to clean up damage or prepare for the next round of storms, local radio shows have been highlighting the...

It's just one state. But it’s one of the centers of African-American culture and influence in the nation. Atlanta, with nearly 6 million residents in its metro area, is home to hundreds of top black musicians and other entertainers, civil rights leaders, and business entrepreneurs. Janet Jackson, Usher, Tyler Perry, and Andrew Young are just a handful of the many big names that can be found moving about the Georgia city on a given day. That's why I was startled when our firm, InsiderAdvantage, conducted this past week two separate surveys about various issues for corporate clients in the area....

Strategic Defense: With Iran on the verge of a deliverable nuke, the administration tells our allies in the dead of night that we will scuttle missile defense plans in Eastern Europe to please the Russians.Czechs are used to betrayal by their Western allies. It was at Munich in 1938 that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sealed their doom in exchange for a piece of paper promising "peace in our time." The fact that this further gutting of missile defense came on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on Sept. 17, 1939, is an eerie coincidence. "Just after...

Radio News: Atlanta radio station WSB (a Boortz station) announced at 8:00 PM news that the state of Gergia will defund all ACORN activities, and will not allow any ACORN contracts to use state funds next year (fiscal year 2010). Existing state ACORN contracts will expire September 30, and will not be renewed.

<p>The beating of a black female Army reservist outside a Georgia restaurant is being investigated as a possible hate crime, federal authorities said Wednesday.</p> <p>Tashawnea Hill was kicked and punched by a white man Sept. 9 as he screamed racial slurs outside a Cracker Barrel in Morrow, about 15 miles southeast of Atlanta, police said. Troy D. West, 47, became enraged when Hill told him to be careful after he nearly hit her 7-year-old daughter while opening the restaurant's door, police said.</p>

Elusive PreK Successes by: Bethany Stotts, September 16, 2009 Some have offered up universal pre-kindgergarten as a solution for America’s educational woes, but CATO scholar Adam Schaeffer argues that the educational “benefits” of government-sponsored pre-k would be transitory at best. “The evidence suggests that the benefits of preschool are limited primarily to low-income children and are likely transitory,” argued Schaeffer in an August CATO Policy Analysis entitled, “The Poverty of Preschool Promises.” In the analysis, Schaeffer examined the three main studies which pre-k supporters cite as evidence that pre-kindergarten provides long-term academic benefits: “the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project, the Carolina...

Several months ago, Democrat Senator Zell Miller (more like a Republican) was speaking at a event, and he said that Rham Emanuel needs to put gorilla glue on the Presidents chair, to keep him from flying all over the world at taxpayer expense. I loved the humor, and heard no racism, unlike our ideological counterparts.......who see racism in everything.

We attended the event held at the Forsyth County Courthouse.

Although they will be vastly overshadowed–and rightly so–by the amazing turnout in Washington, D.C., several localities also hosted Tea Parties to coincide with the March on the Capitol. I was fortunate enough to attend the event in Roswell, GA.

Venezuela recognizes independence of breakaway Georgian provinces 12:00 AM CDT on Friday, September 11, 2009 Los Angeles Times MOSCOW – Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez recognized the independence of the breakaway Georgian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia on Thursday during a state visit to Russia. Venezuela becomes the third country, after Russia and Nicaragua, to acknowledge the national aspirations of the small rebel regions inside Georgia's internationally recognized borders. South Ossetia was at the heart of a brief war last year between Russia and Georgia. Russia has been accused of carrying out a de facto annexation of the two provinces....

Rising tensions between Russia and Georgia over shipping rights to a breakaway Georgian region have opened a potential new theater for conflict between the countries, a little more than a year after they went to war.

Developing story in Georgia, where church pastor Jonathan Ayers was shot and killed by undercover narcotics officers during a botched drug sting on Tuesday afternoon. Ayers was not the target of the investigation. Police were apparently after a woman Ayers had dropped off just prior to stopping at the convenience store where police confronted him. Surveillance video shows a black SUV pulling up to the store, and plain-clothes officers jumping out with their guns drawn before the vehicle has stopped. Ayers' car then backs into the picture, and the officers fire into his car as he drives off. Ayers was...

EATONTON, Ga. -- Authorities say an Augusta businessman killed himself after being chased by police in Putnam County. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills says a deputy tried to pull Jay Weinberger over early Saturday morning because he was towing a trailer with an expired tag. Sills says Weinberger eventually pulled over but took off when the deputy approached his car. The car left the road after a short distance, where the deputy found Weinberger dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Sills says the trailer was stolen and police later found several other stolen trailers in Weinberger's possession. Excerpt - more...

LAVONIA, Ga. (ABP) -- Members of a Southern Baptist church in Northeast Georgia want answers about the police-shooting death of their 29-year-old pastor in a drug-sting operation gone wrong. Jonathan Ayers, pastor of Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Lavonia, Ga., died during the night of Sept. 1, hours after being shot by undercover police officers outside a gas station where he had just gotten money from an ATM machine. The Stephens County Sheriff's Office initially identified the shooting victim as a suspect involved in a drug transaction. Later officials clarified that drug enforcement agents were not investigating Ayers, but a...

Does anybody know if there is any effort going on to reverse the open primary system that gave us John McCain? According to Wikipedia the following states have open primaries: * Alabama * Arkansas * Georgia * Idaho * Indiana * Michigan * Minnesota * Mississippi * Missouri * North Dakota * South Carolina * Tennessee * Texas * Vermont * Virginia * Wisconsin I've run a google news search and come up with blanks.

Plainclothes officers shot and killed a small-town pastor when the 28-year-old father-to-be resisted efforts to question him about a passenger in his car who was the target of a drug sting, authorities said. Jonathan Paul Ayers of Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Lavonia wasn't targeted in the probe that ended in gunfire at a gas station Tuesday, Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead said. But drug task-force agents opened fire on him after he tried to avoid them, putting his car in reverse and striking one of the officers. Bankhead said agents approached Ayers after he dropped a woman...

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. -- A total stranger is accused of slapping a fussy 2-year-old in a Wal-Mart in Stone Mountain. Authorities say the girl and her mother were shopping at Wal-Mart on Tuesday morning when the toddler began to cry. Roger Stephens, 61, approached the mother and told her, "If you don't shut that baby up, I will shut her up for you." Moments later, Stephens grabbed the 2-year-old girl and slapped her at least four times and told the mother, "See, I told you I would shut her up." The child began screaming and Stephens walked away. Another shopper...

Tensions Rise Over Georgia's Sea Blockade Of Abkhazia September 02, 2009 (RFE/RL) -- The leader of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia has threatened to destroy any Georgian ship entering Abkhazia's "territorial waters." "I issued an order to our navy to destroy Georgian ships violating Abkhazia's sea border," Sergei Bagapsh told Interfax. "This step has been motivated by unending acts of piracy by Georgia." It is the strongest threat to date from Bagapsh in an escalating war of words over Tbilisi's efforts to impose a sea blockade on the territory. The blockade was imposed after the Russia-Georgia war one year ago....

I have created a GA State PAC! Priority One- We have a fundraising event already planned, I need volunteers to help with organizing, publicizing, finding sponsors, etc. We will be having a NON-PARTISAN event. Kennesaw State University has given us permission to use their softball field. We will have a softball game with one team of our elected officials – VS - We the People, grassroots folks. Date: Saturday, October 24th, 2009 @ 2:00 pm I need someone willing and able to create and manage a web site for the PAC. I do NOT micromanage- I will tell you what...

Note: The following SNIPPET is a quote: Head of English Language School Sentenced to Federal Prison for Immigration Fraud Conspiracy Songwoo Shim Obtained Fraudulent Certification for School and Used School as Front to Issue Fraudulent Immigration Documents to Illegal Aliens ATLANTA, GA—SONGWOO SHIM, 48, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Charles A. Pannell, Jr. to serve three years, 10 months in federal prison for conspiring to encourage and induce aliens to reside unlawfully in the United States and for manufacturing fraudulent visa documents. Acting United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, “This defendant obtained approval...

Quick thinking by a dozen teenagers may have avoided an apparent school bus hijacking from turning tragic, said witnesses. A man boarded a bus as it stopped at Boulevard and Burroughs Road and tried to take control of it, school district and Atlanta police officials said. The suspect briefly fought with the bus driver, forcing her out of the seat and taking control of the vehicle. At about 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon, an Atlanta Public Schools bus ran off of Boulevard Road after Arris Pitmon, 23, forced his way onto the bus transporting Forrest Hills Academy students and began attacking...

Black agenda' memo stirs mayor race By Ernie Suggs and Eric Stirgus The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Updated 12:07 p.m. The issue of race has come front and center in what had been — until now — a rather low-key and plodding campaign for mayor of Atlanta. On Thursday, responding to a strongly worded memo calling for city voters to elect a black mayor, each of the three top candidates responded by either downplaying race or tackling it head on. The memo notes that for the first time since 1974, “African Americans could lose the mayoral seat in Atlanta, Georgia, especially if...

Russia says Ukrainian soldiers fought for Georgia By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press 2009-08-24 10:50 PM Russia's top investigative body alleged Monday that Ukrainian soldiers fought alongside Georgian troops in last year's war with Russia. The claim _ quickly denied by Ukraine _ is likely to further roil relations between Moscow and Kiev. Less than two weeks ago Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent a letter to his Ukrainian counterpart complaining of an array of alleged insults and offenses. The statement Monday by Russia's Prosecutor General's Investigative Committee said both Ukrainian troops and about 200 militants from the Ukrainian nationalist organization UNA-UNSO...

When Russian Prime Minister Viadimir Putin crossed into Georgia without permission on August 13,2009. it was one more action to test the strength of President Barack Obama. The last time Putin did something like this was when he traveled to South Ossetia, just days after Obama spoke in Moscow.

After nearly two years of investigating non profit hospitals, Albany, Georgia surgeon Dr. John Bagnato and his accountant, Charles Rehberg, were convinced that they had uncovered systemic corruption in the non profit hospital system. While their investigation encompassed the non profit health care system as a whole, its nexis began at the local non profit hospital, Phoebe Putney. The two of them were certain that they found irrefutable evidence that Putney was making hundreds of millions each year, charging unnecessarily high fees to their poor patients, all while their executives enjoyed handsome compensation and the hospital paid no taxes because...

Russia accused Ukraine yesterday of allowing its troops to fight with Georgia in the war over South Ossetia. In a significant ratcheting-up of tension between Moscow and Kiev, prosecutors alleged that serving soldiers in the Ukrainian Army took part in the “genocide and multiple murders of Russian citizens” in the war over the breakaway Georgian region. The Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor-General’s Office also claimed to have “irrefutable evidence” that a Ukrainian ultranationalist organisation, the UNA-UNSO, fought alongside Georgian troops in last August’s conflict. “Servicemen of regular units of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry and no less than 200 UNA-UNSO members...