Daily Archives: January 24, 2009

God almighty, I found this link for about three minutes on the top of Google News ! It was gone just a few minutes later. But it was there, I swear it. This article is not from the kool aide drinkers on the left. It’s from people that know how the economy runs and what makes it work like a well oiled machine.

A federal economic stimulus package that could help balance the state budget and create jobs in Georgia won’t have the support of Atlanta-area Republicans in Congress.

While they agree the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill could ease state budget problems, local Republican congressmen argue the stimulus package isn’t good for Georgia or the economy in the long run.

“Everybody likes to get gifts,” said U.S. Rep. John Linder, a Republican from Duluth. “Somebody has to pay for them.”

Linder said his constituents are tired of bailouts and aren’t pressuring him to vote for the bill. He tells callers the package will pass, but not with his vote. The federal government is in worse shape than state governments, he said, and it has no business balancing their budgets. He argues there’s no guarantee the package would create “even one job,” and a better plan would cut taxes and help small businesses build a stable future.

Rep. Tom Price, a Roswell Republican, is pushing for more tax cuts and credits, too.

“We’re going to take money from Georgians, wash it through Washington, take off some of the money Georgians sent to Washington and then allow Georgians to have some of that money back,” Price said. “It absolutely makes no sense.”

The proposed bill includes about $825 billion in tax breaks and new federal spending, much of which would pass through to state governments.

In Georgia, more than $5.6 billion in stimulus money would go to K-12 education, transportation and infrastructure projects, Medicaid and public safety. Mark Zandi, an economist from Moodys.com who served as an adviser to Republican Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, said last week the country will have 4 million more jobs by the end of 2010 if the plan is approved, 143,000 of them in Georgia.

“It’s a very broad-based package,” said Alan Essig, a former state budget analyst who runs the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, which bills itself as an independent think tank in Atlanta. “It should help lessen the need for state budget cuts, increase jobs and employment, help solidify the safety net when we really need one.”

Georgia is facing $2 billion in budget cuts, affecting teachers, police and firefighters. The state’s Medicaid program is short by $208 million.

The unemployment rate has risen above 8 percent. Zandi, the Moodys.com economist, estimates that the stimulus plan could lower it by 1.8 percent by the end of 2010.

“I don’t think anybody wants to hear you’re voting against it or that the money’s not going to be coming,” said Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, a Republican from Grantville. If the bill dealt only with roads, infrastructure and job creation, he said, he would vote for it — but not as it’s written now.

Rep. Jack Kingston, a south Georgia Republican who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, faulted the package for spending too much on “left-leaning” social programs. He took particular aim at money earmarked for arts and health programs, including a national wellness program he characterized as creating something akin to a “national fat farm.”

“I thought what we were trying to do was support shovel-ready projects, but that’s absolutely not the case so far,” Kingston said. “It looks to me like a huge expansion of social programs and things we do not need to do in this atmosphere.”

But Atlanta and other cities have plenty of projects that can start immediately, said Rep. John Lewis, an Atlanta Democrat. He defended arts funding as a “great investment”and said the stimulus package should help middle-class Americans more than the tax rebates tried by the Bush administration.

“The economy is in a ditch and we need to do something now to get it out,” Lewis said. His advice for Georgia Republicans: “They should get behind their president and support him, because we need to act.”

President Barack Obama has asked Congress to approve a plan by mid-February, and members of Congress say that’s likely to happen, even with some Republicans’ dissent.

While the stimulus plan will boost state economies, it won’t address one of the most important issues: the slow trickle of credit flowing from banks, said Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University. Until a clear plan for financial institutions emerges, he said, the stimulus will act as economic aspirin, dulling the pain without finding a cure.

“If we don’t solve that problem,” Dhawan said, “the rest are unsolvable.”

So Belgium has banned personal firearms ownership. What happens? Well humans are well versed in adaptation, and that is just what happened here. A man picks up a knife and stabs two children and an adult to death and wounds 12 others. So now what? Will they outlaw knives too? What happens when someone uses a stick or bat? Will they outlaw bats? Hockey sticks? Will they force people to cut off their hands when someone strangles another?

It has been a year since the new weapon law was introduced and only 10 percent of the guns in Belgium have surfaced. In addition provincial services that grant permits are busier than ever with applications. Parliament approved a new weapon law after the shooting of a nanny, toddler and other woman on the street in Antwerp by Hans Van Themsche on 11 May 2006. All firearms are banned unless a permit is obtained from the provincial governor. What a joke. JD

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — A 20-year-old man accused of a day-care center stabbing spree was carrying a backpack of weapons and the addresses of three other nurseries when he was arrested, Belgian authorities said Saturday.

Prosecutor Christian Du Four said the man held in Friday’s fatal rampage lived alone, was unemployed and had no criminal record or previously known mental problems.

Three judicial officials told The Associated Press that police found the addresses of the other nurseries after taking the man into custody. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not being publicly released.

Du Four said the suspect wore a bulletproof vest under his clothing and had a knife, an axe and a fake pistol. He said that police also found two other knives near the daycare center where a 9-month old girl, a 6-month old boy and a 54-year-old caregiver were killed.

Du Four said he would not comment on whether the suspect planned other attacks, but said the weapons found in his backpack “point to premeditation.”

Investigators believe the suspect entered the “Fabeltjesland” — Fairytale-land — creche at around 10 a.m. on Friday with an eight-inch (20-centimeter) knife and started stabbing and slashing the children. He had painted his face white with black patches around the eyes.

Belgian newspapers are referring to the attacker as the “Joker” killer, a reference to the “Batman” villain played by Heath Ledger.

Dr. Ignace Demeyer, from Our Lady Hospital in nearby Aalst said six of the 10 wounded children could be released from care over the weekend. Two adults were also hurt. All those hurt were in stable condition Saturday.

The prosecutor’s office in the town of Dendermonde, located northwest of Brussels, said the man was charged with three counts of murder and lived in Belsele, a town around 20 kilometers (12.43 miles) north of Dendermonde.

Du Four said the suspect, whom local media have identified as “Kim D,” is refusing to cooperate with police after hours of questioning at a police station in Dendermonde where he is being held.

“The man has so far not admitted to anything and has refused to do so,” Du Four said at a press conference in Dendermonde . He added the suspect has been placed under judicial arrest and in custody until a court hearing expected on Tuesday.

The man in question was charged on the basis of identifications by eyewitnesses at the day-care center, Du Four said.

Police have also searched his house and seized a computer.

“We don’t know anything in terms of motive, we also don’t know whether there is a link between the man and Dendermonde,” said Du Four.

One worker tried but failed to disarm the suspect, who walked out of the building and rode off on a bicycle. He was later arrested in a nearby town.

Belgians were in shock after the brutal attack and many gathered outside the building Saturday to leave flowers and teddy bears and light candles in memory of the victims. The De Standaard newspaper described the rampage as “madness,” while De Morgen headlined “Cold, Bloodthirsty, Inhuman.”

“We thought that things like this only happened in the United States and now we see that in Belgium, in a small village like this … that such a thing could happen, it is very, very bad,” said local resident Serge De Plecker.

Some 40,000 people also joined a condolences and support page on the Facebook networking site.

A march and vigil outside the center was also planned for the coming days, said Dendermonde Mayor Piet Buyse.