TODAY'S ISSUE: Just What Is, and What Is Not, Emergency Funding
ELLIOTT BRACK: Braves Have Definite Home Advantage with Smoltz
CARTOON: Deep knee bends
FEEDBACK: Wants More To Hear of Linder Fair Taxing Plan
TODAY'S QUOTE: Americans and How They Value Education

"America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week."

-- Evan Esar (1899 - 1995).

"It surprises me that Rep. Linder's Fair Tax Plan has gotten, to my knowledge, so little attention. It represents and promises so much in the way of freeing us all of nearly a 100-year-old burden that has stiffed our economy, limited our freedom and encroached upon our lives."

-- H.D. Lott, Watkinsville, GA

TODAY'S ISSUE
Pork barrel "emergency" spending could dry up in Georgia
By Kelly McCutchen
Georgia Public Policy Forum
Special to GwinnettForum.com

AUG. 29, 2003 -- Anyone who's dined out with a group of colleagues and made the mistake of agreeing beforehand to split the check evenly has experienced the sticker shock of a higher-than-expected bill.

It starts when someone who normally wouldn't order dessert if he were paying his entire check decides to splurge, rationalizing that the additional cost - split several ways - really isn't that high. The problem, unfortunately, is that most people in the group tend to think the same way. Pity the poor responsible fellow who still had to pay his share of the large bill but didn't get dessert!

That rationale explains, too, why government tends to get bigger year after year and spends more of taxpayers' money. It's a bigger group, a bigger bill, but some people still get more dessert than others. And nowhere is this more evident than in the "special projects" that are approved each year in the Legislature.

Consider a proposal to spend $25,000 to provide a community with lights for the local football stadium. The trick is to focus the gain (new stadium lights) and spread the pain (taxes). Representing a mere speck in the state's $16 billion budget - .000002 percent - that little project is hard to attack as a budget buster.

The principle sometimes works in reverse: Most people don't notice the lower prices and new jobs generated by free trade, but the plant closing in a small town is highly visible. Often unnoticed is the great work done every day by thousands of small, community-based charities, but cut funding for a state spending program even slightly and it's big news.

There are clear winners and losers in this game. If you are politically connected or in the right party you win. If you aren't, you - and your constituents - lose.

The process is self-perpetuating because everyone begins to believe they deserve "dessert" - a piece of the proverbial pie. And when one elected official votes for another's project, he or she often expects support for a favorite project in return.

Where does it end? How does it end? It isn't supposed to, according to tradition. "That's the way we've always done it," is the refrain at the restaurant - and in politics. It doesn't end, unless someone has the leadership to put a stop to the way things have always been done.

Governor Sonny Perdue has chosen to take that step. Putting his foot down about what has devolved into a slush fund for political paybacks, the governor has announced the Governor's Emergency Fund will be restricted to real emergencies. From now on, he has directed, requests for emergency funds must be made through local legislators and "should not be made to finance ongoing or non-emergency type expenditures."

No more "emergency" band uniforms, ballet classes, sidewalks or etiquette classes. No more "

This quiet step is a huge win for taxpayers; a signal to expect greater things in "a new Georgia." If the action is representative of this administration's attitude toward spending taxpayers' earnings, then it bodes well for eliminating the waste in programs such as Medicaid, education and corrections that make up the majority of the state budget.

Regardless of whether the funding comes from federal, state or local government, its source is the taxpayer's pocket. For taxpayers, there really is no such thing as a free lunch - or free stadium lights.

ELLIOTT BRACK
Great theater to watch Smoltz entrance at stadium
By Elliott Brack
editor and publisher
GwinnettForum.com

AUG. 29, 2003 -- In baseball, having the home field advantage has certain benefits. For one thing, you always have the "last bat," against your opposition. Therefore, baseball lore gives high marks to getting this certain home advantage.

While the Atlanta Braves are clicking along with about the best record in baseball again this year, one of the reasons for their success must be the effectiveness they get out of their "closer," John Smoltz. He's amazing, virtually successful in about every relief appearance.

Yet there is more.

We attended a Braves' game for the first time this year recently, one where the Braves won, 2-0, and got to see Smoltz mop up the Dodgers in the last inning.

With Smoltz' effectiveness as a closer obvious, yet there is more. Introducing Smoltz at Turner Field, the management of the Braves has created a gangbuster entrance for him that must contribute immensely in psyching out the opposing team. At least it appears that way.

Smoltz lends to this entrance, slowly walking out of the right field bullpen for about 20 paces, then trotting the rest of the way to the mound. Meanwhile, the scoreboard whirls with a revolving "SMOLTZ" and the music blares. It reminds someone of the entrance for a king, with all those ruffles and flourishes. Actually it is an entrance far better than most kings ever get, for they have only a cheering throng, not a scoreboard revolving with their name.

Meanwhile, the opposing team is getting a look at the Smoltz warm-up, with his blazing fastball. When the first victim, that is batter, comes to the plate, the build-up continues as Smoltz whips in the first pitch, the scoreboard shows the speed of the pitch (from 95 mph), and the fans cheer even more.

The next pitch is even faster (98 mph), and the fans explode in another loud cheer. Such antics, from the entrance, to the warm ups, to the actual pitches themselves, can't help the opposition any. In fact, it should discourage them..

The time we were there, the three batters died on three fly balls. The next day, Smoltz set the Dodger side down on three straight strike-outs. Several times the batters kept the bat on their shoulder, faked (or psyched) by Smoltz' perfect pitches, disguised as a fastball, but breaking over the plate.

The former starting pitcher has turned into a tremendous closer. Smoltz has turned into about the best in the business of closing, even a Cy Young contender. The beauty is that as his effectiveness grows, so will the legend around him, which contributes even more. And that big build-up from the scoreboard and PA system doesn't hurt the Braves' chances!

For the Braves ' management, there's even another benefit. If the Braves have a lead, more and more people will want to remain at the stadium to see Smoltz finish up the game, instead of leaving to beat the rush. In reality, Smoltz' appearances may even sell more concession items, as the fans wait around to see the end of the game with Smoltz.

The Atlanta Braves have played entertaining baseball for over a decade now, compiling that record of 11 consecutive division titles. They are on the way to gain yet another this year, these days bolstered by having this great closer in John Smoltz.

If you haven't seen the Smoltz entrance late in the game, it's worth going to Turner Field just to see. He makes coming to the ballpark even more fun.

McLEMORE'S WORLD
Deep knee bends

The latest from cartoonist Bill McLemore:

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