Just for fun, here is a gleaning of opinions that go under the general headings of “How bad is ...?” and “What now?”

How bad is our national jobless situation? This from Mort Zuckerman of U.S. News and World Report:

“Altogether, the 9 percent headline figure is an illusory portrait of the situation across the country, representing 13,863,000 men and women out of work. What happens if you add to that the 8.4 million ‘involuntary’ part-time employed, whose hours have been cut back? Then you get a household unemployment rate slightly under 17 percent. ... Read More»

Two years ago this week — November 2008 — I wrote the following words in this space:

“Important election at a time of crisis:

“I can remember one other election since 1964 that has as much import as this year’s: 1980 and the seismic shift to a man of hope, Ronald Reagan.

“The nation was changed dramatically — many would say for the better. Read More»

Query: If all politics is local — as many say — have local Tea Partiers gone blind to over-reaching government in their own backyards?

Or are Tea Partiers effectively co-opted by local pols’ self-serving participation in the local Tea Party groups and thus prevented from seeing any evil in governments smaller than state level?

If so, smaller-government activists are missing prime targets for their blunt weapons.

Exhibit in point: Peachtree City’s government by survey. Read More»

Few in the media have drawn the lines between the increasing dots in our national financial meltdown. The raw numbers are being reported; the obvious conclusions have not been drawn. I take no pleasure in what I am concluding; nevertheless, here are the data. Judge whether my conclusions are warranted.

California leads the nation in budget toxicity. The state’s generous public employee pension system is the biggest of the black holes in that state’s descent into bankruptcy. Read More»

Something different this week, something that may prove uncomfortable for many of you.

I expect some of my readers who profess different faiths — or no faith at all — to disagree, discount or otherwise disregard this particular installment. To you who disagree, I mean good will toward you, and I hope you will re-join me at a future date.

This will be a column of “what ifs.”

But first, some background — ancient background. Read More»

For more than 30 years, political pundits have raised red flags about an “October surprise,” an unexpected announcement or event that blind-sides a political opponent or party just before the November election.

Google “October surprise” for a quick course in previous suspiciously timed disclosures or actions that seem to be aimed at maximum effect on the electorate. Note that both Democrats and Republicans have been accused of dropping October surprises onto the public plate. Read More»

Fayette County Republicans Tuesday ended the one-term political careers of two well-connected county commissioners and extended for another four years that of a late-blooming school board reformer.

In the process, voters resurrected the electoral fortunes of a twice-defeated former Peachtree City mayor, elevated a political novice to the county commission and sent a nearly invisible school board candidate back to civic club functions. Read More»

THE STATE OF JUSTICE IN FAYETTE: Two judges from the same judicial circuit resign within days of each other, both because of women who are not their wives.

That’s probably unprecedented in Georgia history ... not the “not wives” part, but the near simultaneous resignations. Read More»

Courtesy of President Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Harry Reid and the Democrats in Congress (only Democrats, not one Republican), below are the new taxes you and I are facing in years to come, as detailed by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

Wherever you see fees and taxes on various businesses, manufacturers and industries, put your name in the place of those corporations, including insurance companies, because you and I will be paying those fees and taxes in the form of higher prices for goods and services: Read More»

I admit: When I heard Peachtree City Fire Chief Ed Eiswerth use the phrase,”Don’t balance the budget on the backs of the employees,” yet again in the closing minutes of the City Council’s Saturday retreat session, I was steamed enough to yell at the streaming video:

“So, you want to balance it on my back instead?” Read More»