Category Archives: Law

Videos of candidates @ AAUW 2012-10-24

Welcome After the fourth and final candidates forum, moderated for AAUW by Dr. Jim Peterson last night at VHS, the statehouse candidate attendance report card is:
Incumbents: Ellis Black (R 174) 0 of 4, Amy Carter (R 175) 1 of 4, and Tim Golden (R Sen-8) 1 of 4.
Challengers: Teresa Lawrence (D 174) 4 of 4, JC Cunningham (D 175) 4 of 4, and Bikram Mohanty (D Sen-8) 4 of 4.
Open seat 177: J. Glenn Gregory (R) 4 of 4, Dexter Sharper (D) 4 of 4.
Local candidates: 4 of 4 for every one of them,
Gretchen Quarterman (D) and Bill Slaughter (R) for Lowndes County Chairman,
Chris Prine (D) and J.D. Yeager (R) for Lowndes County Sheriff,
John Gates (R) and Demarcus Marshall (D) for Lowndes County Commission District 4,
Justin Cabral (R) and Jason Cain (D) for Solicitor General.

Here are videos of the entire forum.

Candidates Forum at VHS by AAUW, Deb Van Petten President,
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 October 2012.

Videos of the previous 3 forums:

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ALEC’s “our state legislators” behind multi-year GA constitutional amendment referendum

Ronnie Chance Look who sponsored Georgia Senate Resolution 1231 which put the second referendum question on the ballot! Two of ALEC’s “our state legislators”, Senators Ronnie Chance of the 16th, and Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers of the 21st, are among the sponsors (Chance is the first sponsor).

SourceWatch’s ALEC Exposed found Ronnie Chance on ALEC’s International Relations Task Force. Rogers himself told CBS News how much he values ALEC, Who is ALEC? By Mark Strassmann and Phil Hirschkorn 30 June 2012. Rogers spelled out the same thing ALEC itself told me: it considers people like Chance and Rogers “our state legislators”. “Our” as in belonging to ALEC, not representing you the voters and taxpayers.

Chip Rogers Guess who sponsored the bill that put the charter school amendment on the ballot, HB 1162 in its Senate form? Chip Rogers. And who sponsored the companion bill that would suck money out of public schools and give more per pupil to charter schools, using our local tax dollars, HB 797 in the Senate? Chip Rogers. And House sponsors Jan Jones (R 46th) and Edward Lindsey (R 54th) of both bills are also ALEC’s “our state legislators”.

I don’t always agree with Adam Smith, but when I do, I quote The Wealth of Nations from 1776:

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Softbank’s Son to install solar in Japan: watch out, Georgia Power!

The same Masayoshi Son who shook up Japan’s Internet market and is about to do the same in the U.S. is moving to modify Japan’s power market from nuclear to solar. Watch out, Georgia Power and Southern Company! If you don’t get a move on, Son-san will eat your lunch, too.

Mariko Yasu wrote for Bloomberg Businessweek 23 June 2011, Softbank’s CEO Wants a Solar-Powered Japan,

Masayoshi Son Billionaire Masayoshi Son made a fortune taking on Japan’s phone monopoly. Now he aims to shake up its power utilities after the worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. The 53-year-old chief executive officer of Softbank says he will build solar farms to generate electricity, with support from at least 33 of Japan’s 47 prefectures. He’s asking for access to transmission networks owned by the 10 regional utilities and an agreement that they buy his electricity. No other company has secured unlimited access to the those transmission networks. The utilities would not comment. Japan’s main business organization, the Keidanren, called for “careful analysis” before any drastic change in the power system took place.

If Japan ever felt ready to back Son’s ambitious plan, this is the moment. Radiation has spread across at least 600 square kilometers (230 square miles) in the northeast since the Mar. 11 earthquake and tsunami led to meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant. Outgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in May he will rethink a plan to increase atomic power to 50 percent of the nation’s energy output from 30 percent. Renewable energy already accounts for 10 percent, according to Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. Son wants to see that tripled by 2020. “The question is how this nation is going to survive after cutting nuclear power,” he said at a government panel meeting on June 12.

Complacent Georgia Power and SO, you maybe don’t think he can do it? NTT probably thought that, too:

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Candidates ready @ AAUW 2012-10-24

Here’s a picture of candidates waiting to speak at last night’s AUUW forum. None of the incumbent state legislators showed up. All of the challengers did, along with all the candidates for local offices.

Front row: John Gates, J. Glenn Gregory, Gretchen Quarterman, Teresa Lawrence, J.D. Yeager, Justin Cabral
Second row: Dexter Sharper, Demarcus Marshall, Bill Slaughter, Chris Prine, Jason Cain
Third row: Bikram Mohanty, J.C. Cunningham, AAUW organizer
Missing: Tim Golden, Amy Carter, Ellis Black
Picture by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 October 2012

The videos should be up later today. are up now.

-jsq

Quitman 10+2 trial set for December

George Boston Rhynes notes a trial date of 10 December 2012 has finally been set for the Quitman 10+2. They were arrested back in 2010 for alleged voter fraud. Their “speedy trial” has taken so long that one of them has died.

The governor did convene a committee that ejected them from the school board in January. After repeatedly going to Atlanta, after Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials (GABEO) held its general meeting in Quitman, after Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp came to Quitman to hear complaints about the handling of the Quitman 10+2 case and recent irregularities involving the Brooks County Board of Elections, members of the Quitman 10+2 were finally reinstated on the school board 9 October 2012. Yet their “speedy trial” has been delayed for two full years, all the way until after this year’s election.

Here’s the video:

Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

-jsq

Candidates again tonight @ AAUW 2012-10-24

Will any of our incumbent state legislators show up this time? Their challengers have spoken every time. AAUW logo 7PM tonight is the last time to see all the local candidates in one place: Wednesday 24 October 2012, Performing Arts Center, Valdosta High School, 3101 North Forrest Street, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, AAUW presents a Political Forum. This one, unlike some previous ones, is advertised on the sponsoring organization’s website (although oddly not on its facebook page) and in the VDT calendar.

So far, Ellis Black (R 174) 0 of 3, Amy Carter (R 175), 1 of 3, and Tim Golden (R Sen-8) 1 of 3. Challengers Teresa Lawrence (D 174), JC Cunningham (D 175), and Bikram Mohanty (D Sen-8) all spoke at 3 of 3. Videos of the previous forums:

Candidates at 30 Club forum at Serenity Church
Candidates at Homebuilders Association Forum at Rainwater Conference Center
Meet the Candidates by Chamber of Commerce at VSU

vote Don’t forget to vote, today, tomorrow, Saturday, or on that great election day, November 6th 2012.

-jsq

Videos @ 30Club 2012-10-22

Here's a video playlist of the Candidate Forum last night organized by the 30 Club at Serenity Church. Probably more commentary later; for now, in the interests of speed, just the raw videos.

Candidates Forum, 30 Club, J.D. Rice, President
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 October 2012.

-jsq

Animal shelter violations in Chatham County

Some of an animal shelter story coming out in Chatham County sounds familiar.

Mary Landers wrote for SavannahNow 20 October 2012, Savannah Chatham Animal Control Shelter cited for violating state rules: Local professionals call shelter’s care “inhumane”

The county-funded Savannah Chatham Animal Control Shelter was found to have repeatedly violated animal protection requirements in two state inspections last month, and its practices are being criticized as inhumane by four local animal professionals.

One professional criticized the shelter not only in writing, but also by revoking the shelter’s permission to use her veterinary license. The Chatham County Commission says it’s dealt with the problem. We’ll see.

-jsq

We can charge you even if it’s cancelled! —CWIPped Georgia Power

Steve Willis An excellent article about the problems with Georgia Power’s new nukes on the Savannah River gets at something you may not know: they can charge you for them even if they’re cancelled!

Steve Willis wrote for the Georgia Sierran Oct./Nov./Dec. 2012 page 5, Overruns, Uncertainty Plague Vogtle Expansion,

If Southern Company abandons this project, the CWIP law not only allows Southern Company to keep all of the CWIP payments legally extorted from customers, but allows them to keep CWIP fees in place or even increase them until all their costs and profits have been fully recovered. Due to the run-away cost overruns, the CWIP charge on your monthly bill is already more than three times what Southern Company confidently claimed it would be at this time when they presented their case to “your” Georgia legislature in 2009.

And that 2009 legislature rubberstamped CWIP so it appears on your Georgia Power bill as Nuclear Construction Cost Recovery Rider. Willis reminds us that the 2 nukes already at Plant Vogtle were projected to be four nukes for $600 million and ended up being two for $9 billion.

Everyone has heard the saying “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” If the Vogtle expansion costs balloon, as many analysts expect, it will cost

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Georgia Power hikes prices for gas and nuclear, then complains about solar

Back in February, Georgia Power's natural gas Plant McDonough Georgia Power argued that a free market in solar power would cause price increases. Yet they already increased prices for natural gas and for nuclear plants that won’t produce electricity for years, if ever, and are already massively overbudget and behind schedule. Why should we believe them about solar when it’s their archaic projects they already are deploying that already have increased customer prices?

In February, Greg Roberts of Georgia Power argued,

Another reason is that the customers of Georgia Power, Georgia’s Georgia Power is the snail in the way of solar power in Georgia EMC’s and Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia are paying for the poles and wires to transmit power, and the back-up generation to cover the electricity needs when the sun isn’t shining. These costs will have to be recovered from other customers not getting the privileged deal from the developer, raising everyone else’s rates.

While there are already numerous federal and state tax and other incentives for solar development in Georgia, it is still much more costly than the service provided by utilities. But what if third-party solar developers could get other electric customers in Georgia to foot the bill? That would be the result of this legislation.

It’s like asking Sally’s Café to pay the electric bill of Joe’s Cafe across the street, thus allowing Joe to undercut Sally’s prices.

Georgia Power well knows they could take a percentage of any power transmitted through their lines, so that wires and poles and backup generation argument is ludicrous. And as far as subsidies, how about this one, Georgia Power, Get the Facts, Investing in Georgia’s Energy Future:

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