Put lipstick on a Bush and you get Sarah Pallin.--TH

Whatever Happened to Separation of Church & State

The widespread notion that any candidate for public office must announce and proclaim his religion, his views on religion, his faith or his relationship with God is not only absurd, but outrageously contrary to one of the basic tenets of our nation's founders: the separation of Church and State. Most of us over the age of 40 or so were taught as children that it was impolite to discuss religion or money in public. Now, both are bandied about as political commodities. Many churches contend that God gives riches to those who believe in their particular faith; politicians contend that they should get your vote because they talk to God.This is not the way American, land of the free, is supposed to be.

How on earth does John McCain think that putting a young woman on his ticket is going to win over disgruntled Clinton supporters?

When that young woman says she wants to outlaw ALL abortion, even in cases of rape, incest, danger to the woman or anything else. Hillary women will never vote for such a ticket! -- Liz Harger

Is Tybee Fun for Anyone Anymore?

Doesn't look that way. First, Tybee Island City Council ruled against fun for kids--the Skate Park in Memorial Park. Now they'ved ruled against the Dog Park there. No fun for dogs.

The once delightful little island has placed such financial burdens on adults that it can't be much fun for many of us, either. Skyrocketing property taxes threaten to force some residents to move, or try to move, in the midst of the worst housing market in decades!

Tourists and visitors are faced with skyrocketing parking fees.

Other islands and other beaches sound better and better! --E. Harger

The U.S. Economy has Tanked

John McCain says the economy isn't quite where it should be!
Granted, he already said he doesn't know much about economy.... But what country is he living in? The U.S. economy has tanked. Period. We're in a recession, and if something isn't done to stop the hemoraging of the housing market, we could end up with the first serious depression this country has seen since the Great Depression of the 1930's. --Liz Harger

Why toss out a $55-million investment?

Suppose you bought a mansion for $55-million and finished paying off the mortage in 2006. Now the landscaper says he has to buy a more expensive mower. Would you just walk away from the building and its contents? That's what the City of Savannah is doing by closing its trash incinerator rather than turn it into a waste-to-energy generator of electricity -- which would locally produce electricity at less than a nuclear power plant. Go figure.-- Jack Star

Why the Hillary Bashing by Female Columnists

Why are so many female cloumnists oppesed to Hillary Clinton? Everyone from Maurenn Dowd to Rosa Brooks are showering Obama with superlatives etc. He may well deserve them, but I don't understnd the animosity toward Hillary that seems to be expressed by the female writers. -- Martin James

Re: Ebenezer Creek

We have canoed and kayaked Ebenezer several times but on the last trip at low water we couldn't get through the lily pads. we have always put in at Long Bridge and paddled down to the Savannah but since we were planning to take a couple of small kids with us, I was concerned that the river might still be blocked in spite of the increased river level. I hate to see what my good friend Dr. Wynn has done to the river but I guess you just have to face up to those things. --Fred Maner

Georgia Southern University Makes Major Climate Commitment

Congratulations to Georgia Southern University President Dr. Bruce Grube for his leadership in signing the American College & Universities Presidents Climate Commitment that sets a target for campus-wide carbon neutrality. Over 475 other college and university presidents have signed - though only three other public institutions in Georgia.

According to Dean Bret Danilowicz of the College of Science and Technology at GSU, the college is launching an Office of Sustainability, which will, in part, develop a comprehensive inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions from the college, identify best practices for sustainability at other universities, and develop an implementation plan. Danilowicz seeks to educate students with a deep understanding of the environment and human ecology, while creating graduates who can pragmatically incorporate sustainability into the economic development of the region.

Now if AASU, SSU, SCAD, Savannah Tech, South University, and Memorial Health University, would also get on board, and partner with local business and government, they could form a regional powerhouse of knowledge and training for the new jobs of the not-to-distant future. -- Jack Star

Obama vs. Clinton

The national media is making a mountain out of a molehill about the so-called backbiting and squabbling between Clinton and Obama. These two excellent candidates have been having some valid and worthwhile arguments which deserve attention. The two are largely on the same page, but their variations on viewpoint, vision and implementation are well worth airing so that those of us torn between the two can more easily decide which one we prefer to see as our next President. --Thomas

"Linger Longer Communities" sounds like a snake oil manufacturer to me! --Vic

A Woman for President

I think many, many people got pumped by Obama's win in Iowa and his victory speech. Even I appreciate the extraordinary moment in history.

Yesterday, before going to a Hillary organization meeting, I thought about why I had to push my comfort level to the extreme and get into the action.

I am a 16th generation American; I'm only the 4th generation of women in my family to be able to vote. This is huge to me, because I identify first and strongest as a woman. And I believe in the woman running for president. I believe she represents me and every other woman in this country. That she gets it. That she can and will bring women to the front. That she's the brightest and best. That she has the tools, the knowledge, the strength and the will to lead.

It's impossible for me to go into a voting booth this time and punch that card for a man, any man. I can't, won't, miss the first opportunity we'll ever have to vote for a woman president.

Break the damn glass ceiling once and for all. That's my personal historic moment.--Laine McCall, Georgia Women for Hilary Clinton

Hillary -- The Faded Vision

For years, I've anticipated Hilary Clinton's run for president. I remembered, with great fondness, the wonderful years when she was an intgral part of the Clinton presidency. I remembered vividly Bill Clinton's messages of hope; his vision of a bright new America --Which he gave us. And I dreamed of a woman president.

In recent years, I was disappointed, more than once, by Hilary Clinton's caving in to the Bush administration. I shrugged off these misgivings, believing that once she was president, it would be different. But my doubts persisted. By the day of the Iowa causes, I was rooting for John Edwards -- but still, with the thought that when I walked into the voting booth on primary day, I might yet cast my vote for Clinton. After all, how could I betray the woman I had so admired for so long? How could I betray my dream of a woman as president?

In the end, I was delighted with the results of the votes. Inspired by the realization that Americans, from both sides of the political scope -- if Iowa is an example -- want change. We want freedom from the old guard Washington Establishment. We want new directions, new visions, and new hopes.

And then I listened to Obama's victory speech. His words resounded clear and bold. The moment of my epiphany had come. I realized that this man, above all, believes in new directions; believes in hope for a brighter future. I realized that this man has the depth of knowledge, the intelligence and the drive to give us the future of which we dream.

Before the last seven or so years, the United States was a peaceful nation, not given to preemptive war. We were courageous and brave. Fear was not a part of our national identity. We were a fiscally sound nation with the highest production of any major country on earth. Ours was the most highly educated nation; the most respected by the world. We were the leaders in science and technology.

Obama will give all this back to us. Not in a day or a month, to be sure. But in the first four years of his presidency, we will make great strides toward these goals. And given another four years, I believe he will undo all of the damage done in the last eight years. -- E.Harger

The Statue of Liberty Revisited

In 1883 Emma Lazarus, herself a descendant of immigrant Portuguese Sepharic Jews, wrote The New Colossus, a poem used as a fundraiser for the Statue of Liberty, which was presented in 1886 as a gift from France. It is inscribed on a bronze plaque inside the pedestal of the statue and contains these inspiring words:

These days I guess we'd have to add -- except if you're from Mexico, Central America or Haiti.

Whatever happened to America the Beautiful? -- Chuck

At first glance, drug testing for welfare recipients doesn't seem like a bad idea. On second thought, it's pointless.

First, it's expensive.

Second, the largest group of welfare recipients are the elderly and disabled. Very, very few of those use drugs at all.

The next largest group are mothers of infants. As a social worker who worked with these young women for a good many years, I can attest to the fact that few of them are drug users and those who do use something generally do nothing but smoke a little marijuana once in a while.

Others are often mentally incapacited folks, many of whom are seriously, clinically depressed and some do turn to drugs for relief of their pain when they can.

So you wouldn't eliminate many recipients of aid. And it seems highly unlikely, in our current environment, that voters would provide the tax dollars necessary for treatment of those who do use drugs. Without providing treatment, denying them their small amount of income would simply leave them homeless with nowhere to turn except, perhaps, to crime in order to feed and house themselves.

Incidentally, the government does not distribute our taxes as they "see fit." The uses of tax money are determined by the voting public. -- E. Harger

Like a lot of folks, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test & gt; with which I have no problem. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them? Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do on the other hand have a problem with helping someone sitting around doing drugs, while I work. Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check ? --cw

And Dad spoke and he said, 'Let all who are lacking be those who are cheered on.'

The recent behavior of a certain highly paid NFL player has made me ponder why some people have one idea of what one may call fair play, or sportsmanship, and some may have another.

As always when I begin to consider such things, I try to put the situation into context with my own life and this latest news item was no different.

One of my many memories from childhood are the Saturday afternoons I spent with my dad watching Georgia Tech football on TV. Occasionally it would be a weekend when there were other football teams playing each other and on one of these weekends I asked my dad which team we should be cheering for.

His answer was "Well, I usually root for the underdog."

I thought that was funny since, at the time, I was fond of a popular cartoon with the same name. I asked what "The Underdog" was and my dad explained that it was whatever team was behind on the score. He did not use the word "losing." This angle immediately became, in my mind, the idea of what a sports fan showing good sportsmanship was. If teams that you do not have any particular connection with are playing, you root for the one who has the fewer points. Easy enough, right? I have tried to live my life by those simple terms. Root for the under dog.

Understand that as an adult, I don't watch much football on TV and I have never really cared for pro-sports. However, few of us have been able to avoid the newest developments in the recent bust of a dog fighting ring which happened to also net a popular NFL player.

I don't want to debate the issue. If he is guilty, as he has pled, he should do whatever time and pay whatever fines would be levied upon any one of us. The time should be long, spent in whatever conditions the dogs were subjected to and the fines should be very high.

That is not what I am pondering. What I wonder is where did this young man's idea of sportsmanship come from? Was it his dad? His mom? His coach? Maybe it was from the other kids at school or in the neighborhood where he grew up, but somewhere along the line he learned it was a sport to pit animal against animal.

Somewhere along the line he was taught that this was just another way to spend a Saturday afternoon when your teams aren't playing on TV. And he learned that the side that was behind on the score not only shouldn't be cheered, but should be shot, electrocuted, drowned or even hung by the neck until dead. I am even more confused at the fact that the sports world seems to think that the worst aspect of this heinous crime is the gambling involved. I understand that the stakes were very high, around $20,000 and up per fight.

Ok, now I see a pattern.

Yet another recent, unavoidable sports news item. Think steroids. Sorry, performance enhancing drugs.

The glory used to be in the winning of a contest by your own natural ability. The rush you felt pushing yourself to the very best that you could and it paid off in victory!

But then add agents, managers, sponsors, a heaping scoop of ego, and you begin to put the cash payoff in front of the excitement of two equally matched contenders vying for top dog. A competition that inevitably ends up making one of them an underdog.

The fact is that at some point these guys missed the sportsmanship boat. Sportsmanship was supposed to teach that you should always pick on those of your own size and be considerate of those who are less fortunate then you.

Sportsmanship was supposed to teach that you should always play fair and cheer for the side that is running behind because they are the ones that need it the most. And last but certainly not least (because what have we learned about being the least?)

Sportsmanship was supposed to teach that above all, the best trait in a winner is, and always will be good sportsmanship. -- Galen Kidder,

I heartily agree with the writer who wants all of us in Savannah to tackle our own despicable dog-fighting problem and, also, to insure that Vick never plays football again. But, please folks, remember that pit bulls (a term that encompasses several breeds) are not innately vicious or dangerous. Raised by normal, kind and loving people, these guys are as sweet as any dog, great family pets, and a credit to the canine world. --Vic Dolinger

Just two weeks ago, I couldn’t turn on the news without hearing the outcry over Michael Vick and his involvement with dog fighting. I sincerely hope that as the headline fades, the greater issue at hand is not forgotten. We must as a community, acknowledge that this cruel and inhumane “sport” exists right here in our very own community, and thus work together to end the torture towards “man’s best friend.” Make no mistake about it, this is no longer a problem that exists in rural areas. Dog fighters are right here in the heart of Savannah. On a recent visit to the Canine Palace on Abercorn Street, the owner informed me of “waste of human flesh” who frequently stops by her shop to see if any pit-bulls are posted on her Humane Society bulletin board. He is clear about his intent, and she frantically calls the Humane Society every time he stops in, to inform them of his behavior. Just a year or so ago, an acquaintance was out walking her two small dogs when they were viciously accosted by a stray pit-bull. She was able to save one of her babies, but the other was not so lucky. She watched as her beloved pet was mauled to death by a pit-bull that was no doubt bred to fight. It’s time we all took a closer look at our community and our neighbors. The Humane Society has some great tips on their website to help detect dog fighting, and I hope you will all take a moment to view their site.

Lastly, I hope that my fellow Falcon Fans and football fans in general will take the moral “high-road” and work to keep Vick out of football for good. It was bad enough, he had the gall to flip the bird to his own fans last year, but this is beyond explanation. --Heather Young

Last Saturday night, and the prior Saturday night, I took my girlfriend out for cocktails at a very nice bar in Savannah, then to one of our most upscale restaurants for dinner. Both weeks, we went afterward to a bar or club or two. Wherever we went, it was the same thing. Beautifully dressed, coiffed and gorgeous young women accompanied by men who looked like...well, slobs. One was even wearing what appeared to be a 20 year old Hawaiian shirt and a paid of baggy, wrinkled Bermuda shorts!

Don't women prefer nice looking men?

--Hal Laroche

As a child my family moved around a lot. As a result I didn’t make friends easily. However, in the fall of 1995 that changed. I was sixteen years old and going to a new school. It was there I met my best friend, Alecia Miller. At twenty-one I moved here to Savannah. We kept in touch, but eight hours separated us. Many emails, letters, and not so funny cell phone bills came and went over the years.

Finally, last year, she was able to make the trip here to see me. I was so excited. We had planned the perfect evening starting with dinner at a tucked away bistro. Over salad and wine we talked about old times and laughed about our teenage antics.

Then we walked, arms linked, to River Street while we talked about the strange ways our lives had differed from how we imagined. Neither of us brought up the subject of her leaving the next morning. It was too painful. This was our only night to be the girls we had once been together. The street lamps shining brightly against the evening dusk, we skipped down the cobble stone street, oblivious to the stares we acquired along the way. All that mattered was that we were together again.

The sounds of the Savannah River could be heard as boats passed by, leaving a wake of waves splashing below us, drowning out our off key renditions of our once favorite songs. Overwhelmed with the perfect Savannah evening we found a bench to sit down on. There we began to share our emotions. The loneliness we had felt while we were apart was evident in the tears flowing down our cheeks. We talked for hours until it was time for her to leave. We never have been able to get together again. Our lives are full of being mothers and full time workers, but we will always have our once-upon-a-time in Savannah. -- Laurie Meredith

I've never been a fan of Paris Hilton, barely noting whenever her face crossed my computer or TV screen that she was another pretty face prancing about to the beat of her family's money machine.

But when the worldwide furor erupted as she was released from jail into home confinement, I found it difficult to ignore the vitriol of the commentators who lashed out at her. When once again, she was handcuffed and abruptly hauled back to jail, sobbing, clearly in terror, I was horrified at the nastily gleeful, vindictively triumphant cries of the very commentators who helped make her a "star".

This unfortunate young woman, over-protected for every moment of her young life, was now all alone, and at the mercy of her jailers. I doubt that she had ever spent a moment without the immediate, omnipresent protection of her family, her bodyguards, boyfriends, servants, attorneys and publicists. This was hardly her fault. And it was not her fault that she had been raised to believe that her family's money gave her the right to behave abominably without penalty.

Now she was in a world of stark terror. How could anyone not empathize? How could anyone lack compassion? How could anyone not feel her pain. Why have we become a nation without compassion? -- E.Harger

Like most Americans, I have been watching, sadly, endless hours of TV reporting on the tragedy at Virginia Tech. But unlike most, I have felt, in addition to sadness, gratitude. Every few minutes, I think, 'There, but for the sake of Ike,' go I. As a young boy, fear of my brutal and cruel parents, fear of all human beings, encased me in a kind of grey cocoon of isolation. Although I maintained reasonably good grades in school, I never had a friend, could not speak in class, never, ever, could look directly into another person's face.

For the first few years of my life, I wanted only to be dead. And then I began to think of what it might feel like to hurt someone, or lots of people. To kill them or injure them. I hated the world and everyone in it. I lived in terror all the time.

When I was about 10, a scruffy dog came into the area where we lived in a trailer. He befriended me and I began furtively saving scraps of my food for him, giving him most of my lunch except for those things like an apple which he wouldn't eat. I stole cereal from my parents kitchen and gave that to him. He was black and brown and white, with short hair all over his body except for his tail, which was long a furry and fluffy. I used my own hairbrush to secretly groom him. We were secret pals. He was never allowed near our trailer. When my father saw him, he'd throw a rock or kick him.

Every day, after school, while my parents were still at work, I would sneak out to the woods where he hid and give him my stash of food and play with him. Until one day, something, some of the fear and hatred inside me errupted. I hit him. Again and again. He simply stared at me with his big brown eyes. So I picked up a stone and smashed his shoulder with that. And he let out a yelp, almost a howl, of pain. He still did not run away. He did not try to bite me. Shocked, I fell to the ground next to him, crying, and begging his forgiveness. He snuggled up next to me and licked my tears and we fell asleep together. Somehow, that forgiveness and love from Ike, put an end to my anger and hatred. I still lived in fear and loneliness, but never again, have I felt any impulse toward hurting any one or any thing.

When I was 16, Ike died. Shortly thereafter, I ran away, never to return. I just turned 60, and in all these years, although I have had many dogs, there has never been a day in which I did not think of Ike. With love and with gratitude. --Thomas

As former, if brief, residents of Savannah, I frequently go back to your site and look at what's going on, the lovely houses, etc.....and was HORRIFIED to read that they are talking about building up Jekyll Island. It's just about the only one around that hasn't been ruined! If a group gets together to stop the development, and needs donations, do put me on the list, okay? We're in San Diego now -- but always feel a tie to the places we've been. Best regards, Liz Wiley

Editors,
It's a shame that our morning newspaper has eliminated several of our favorite comic strips, including my own two favorites, 9 Chickweed Lane and Garfield. Probably because of the occasional "liberal" leaning of a strip. Why not help a bunch of us out and get the strips for your site? Thanks, --Gretta Saldamondo

When did the word "liberal" come to be the long form of a four-letter word? It's hurled at people as a derogatory epithet.

Given that the noun "liberal" means someone free of prejudice against any race, creed, sexual orientation, economic group or other divisive entity, I am proud to be a liberal.

Given that the verb, "liberal" means generosity, openness to all ideas, free of hatred and bigotry, compassion for the disadvantaged and the poor, I am even prouder to be a liberal.

So let's call a Liberal a Liberal, without any excuses or apologies.

And let's do more: Let's vote for Liberals in the upcoming elections and place our hopes in a kinder, more compassionate world than we now live in. -- E.Harger.

Everyday on my way to work, I have at least one pedestrian DARE me to hit them with my SUV! Kids, adults, parents pushing strollers, even bicyclers, all weaving in and out of traffic with no regard for the cross walk? Do you not value your lives enough to wait for the univeral signal to cross? Are our children no longer taught "how to cross a street?" Montgomery Crossroads seems to be the most fun road for pedestrians to tempt oncoming traffic, so drivers BEWARE!

And the next time I have to slam on my breaks, and my poor 24 pound dog falls into the floorboard of my truck, consider yourself dead! -- HY

On the Truman Parkway headed for 80, everything within me starts to unravel. Savannah has such beauty. Enthralled by this beauty, of the trees, dark roads, star-filled skies, my driving is distracted and at the end, I wonder what pulls such emotion out of me.

Is it the magic of this place we live in? Is it the lyrics of artists and musicians like the Fray, Randall Shreve, Jeff Buckley, and Benjamin Del Shreve that speak to the part of my heart that identifies with their own emotions?

Perhaps it's a combination of these things that speak to me. I may never know exactly what inspires such reflection, I know that a night's drive to the Islands ia a beautiful thing. In a scene from American Beauty, I realize on my own that "Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, and my heart is just going to cave in." -- David Warren

Everybody loves a rags to riches story. Paula Deen's Bag-Lady-to-Superstar tale reverberates nationwide as well as here at home. But her first, and recent, trip to Europe turned ugly for a moment in England, when she turned away from chatting with a deli keeper to make a grimace at the camera and all of the millions who watch her.

"Why would anyone eat blood pudding?", she asked with a shudder.

Now that particular sausage is definitely not a favorite of mine or of many Americans, but it is widely eaten and enjoyed throughout much of Europe. I don't believe that Paula Deen would grimace at a Savannah dinner party if served something she didn't like. She would, I imagine, pass it up with a polite comment or simply say nothing at all.

On her return to re-create many of the dishes she sampled in Europe, there were a number of faintly disparaging, and uncalled for, remarks about European cuisine, especially the French. This queen of Southern Cuisine has accomplished much for Savannah, in both fame and fortune. Let's hope that she has not lost her humility. -- G.S.

We were driving back on 16 and stopped at a gas station to fill up in a town that Sherman probably gladly leveled, but had grown back like so much kudzu. I went inside hoping to find something of the local vernacular to distract me from, well, the local vernacular. And there it was, on the upper rack above the Vienna Sausages and the Peach State snow globes, a gimme cap (a baseball cap for those not in the know). Now, emblazoned across the front was a slogan I shall not soon forget (I can't really, because Megan bought it) ... it was "Git Her Drunk, then Git Her Done" and it had the image of a confederate battle flag in the shape of a woman on all fours ... and in the back at the clasp of the hat was another confederate flag and the words Rebel below it.

Jeez, racism AND the degredation of women all in a product you can wear. Now that's Georgia! Now of course we couldn't resist buying it, if only for an anthropological study, but we soon realized that we were the ONLY ones laughing at its absurdity. The cross eyed woman at the register seemed to behave as if she actually had posed for the design and possibly was upset.One of the interesting things about this cap was that it was made in China. Now I know that a lot of things are made in China, I just can't imagine the factory where these things are produced. I can just see Boss Hogg driving his Cadillac through rural China to inspect the workers and make sure that the integrity of the South is not marred by communism. God forbid! Do these workers even know? Were the workers of Butts County Georgia demanding minimum wage to embroider images for "the cause?" -- Nicholas Fuqua

Now, two years later, he's actively involved in church and community and loves every minute of being in Savannah! When I lived away from Savannah, I missed: