The Georgian Gazette

As our culture continues to push and strive toward a completely secular lifestyle with no restraints or rules, the people of Japan are quickly turning from secular thinking to spiritual. When disaster strikes we hunt for the address of the church, or the phone number of the local pastor. Until that time comes, however, we want the church and all its old fogey ideas to stay the heck out of our lives and let us make our own decisions as to what we will do, where we will go, and what we will ingest into our bodies. The thinking of what happens in Las Vegas (known as sin city), stays in Las Vegas has made its way into mainstream thinking today and is certainly alive and well in Georgia . This week, I listened to the debate on the Senate floor before the vote on the bill that calls for local communities to hold elections for the selling of alcohol during specific times on Sunday. Georgia is pretty much a wet state allowing for alcohol sales to be licensed by the state and regulated by...

Each of us has several things in common. We each have a past, present, and future. While it is true that the contents of those three segments of life are different, we must admit it is true that all of us have a past, we are living in the present, and there is a future ahead of us. In the business and professional world there are people making mega dollars by helping leaders of industry plan the course toward the future.   One of the great temptations to which many fall prey is to become so focused upon what is going on in the present day they ignore making plans for the future. Joel Barker, the world famous scholar and futurist, dedicated his adult life to helping people develop a vision for the future. Barker is known for challenging the giants of industry and business with quotes such as this: “You can and should shape your own future; because if you don’t someone else surely will.” In this fast paced world that is changing faster each second, it is hard just to keep up with th...

Spring is my favorite time of the year. Many people have been talking about having spring fever. Spring is that time of the year when the sunshine seems to be brighter and brings needed warmth after the long, dark, and cold days of winter. There is no more beautiful sight than the warm sunshine hitting upon the earth in the early days of spring when all the trees are budding and flowers begin to bloom again. Contrast that picture with the cold, dark, dreary days of winter when the earth is turned at an angle away from the sun and one cannot feel the warmth of its rays. In winter, it seems dark and cold all the time and in spring, when the days are longer, the sunshine makes more daylight by which to enjoy outdoor activities. When I heard that the elected officials in Wisconsin were hiding from their elected duties, I became disturbed about their childish activity and thankful it was a long way from Georgia . However, recently, I learned that we actually have politicians in Georgia w...

We have all heard that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This year I have felt the elitist attitude of our elected government leaders more than any other. There must be something that happens between the campaign for an elected office and the actual time when a person is sworn into service. During a campaign, many of those who run for office make time for the people who will vote for them. There are planned gatherings in homes, civic clubs, and political party meetings. There are open discussions on the issues, and the candidate is eager to let anyone within hearing distance know their positions on the issues. Soon after being sworn into office, however, something seems to happen, I am not sure what, but they suddenly become real busy, too busy to return phone calls or check emails. They have meetings to attend, schedules are crowded with functions they must attend, and they cannot get back to talk with the people who voted for them and placed them in office. I kn...

On September 21, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Amendment into law. This law was passed by a large voting margin in both houses of Congress. In short, the bill says: “Marriage is a legal union between one man and one woman.” This bill has been challenged on several occasions in court, one which declared it to be unconstitutional. July 2010, a federal district court judge rendered a decision that has been under appeal since that time.   February 23, 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that based on an opinion by President Obama, the Department of Justice would no longer defend the bill in the courts. It seems that President Obama believes the bill to be unconstitutional, according to media sources. Attorney General Holder said that the debate leading up to the passage of the bill, which was signed by President Clinton, included language and speech that he defines as “animus.”   The definition of animus in Webster’s Universal College Dictio...