From an editorial column I wrote for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

A widely reported study by the left-wing Center For American Progress suggests Arizona’s tourism industry suffered a $141 million loss as a direct result of the passage of its illegal immigration reform bill. No nonpartisan group has produced an economic impact study of the effect of these boycotts.

What the Center for American Progress doesn’t tell you is that tourists spend $19.3 billion in Arizona each year. In other words, the boycott of Arizona, which has received tremendous coverage in the national media, caused a three-quarters-of-1-percent drop in tourism revenue, according to the calculations distributed by this one partisan group.

Has the boycott been successful? Let each reader decide for themselves, but I for one am not impressed.

Tourism is a $31.3 billion industry in Georgia. It is understandable that folks in that industry would work to protect Georgia’s image. However, those who say Gov. Deal should veto HB 87 because of the potential of a less than 1 percent drop in tourism revenue are on shaky ground.

An improving national economy will have a greater positive impact than any negative effect from organized boycotts.

The opposing viewpoint is here.

This afternoon I had the pleasure of viewing the new documentary “Waiting For Superman.” The title refers to a comment made by Geoffrey Canada that he cried when his Mother told him Superman was not real.

“…she thought I was crying because it’s like Santa Claus is not real. I was crying because no one was coming with enough power to save us.”

Much like the film “The Lottery,” parents seek to get their kids out of failing schools and into better Charter schools. “Waiting For Superman” however spends a lot of time trying to figure out what’s wrong with failing schools and what can be done about it. Not every child can attend a charter school, and not all charter schools are good, so bad public schools need to be fixed.

The central conclusion of the film is that you can’t have great schools without great teachers. The film says we need to do all we can to develop more great teachers, reward them, and get poor performing teachers out of the schools. The film shows some examples of just how hard it can be in certain places to get poor performing teachers out of the classroom.

New York has what they call “rubber rooms” where teachers who have been accused of wrongdoing sit, sometimes for years, waiting for their situation to be resolved. In Milwaukee, poor performing teachers are shifted from school to school in what they call the “lemon dance.” In both of those cities, as well as many others, it’s almost impossible to fire poor performing teachers. Georgia of course is a right to work State so no union protections exist for teachers. How this impacts things here in Georgia I’m not very sure at this point.

“Waiting For Superman” has drawn criticism for appearing to blame teachers for all the problems in education. I don’t think the film blames teachers but rather demonstrates how crucial teachers are to a successful education. Firing poor performing teachers is a controversial subject and a fight that will continue as the debate over education reform continues.

One final comment. DC School Chancellor Michelle Rhee is featured in the film (as well as in the trailer below). Yesterday she resigned her position after the DC Mayor who had appointed and supported her lost reelection.

“Waiting For Superman” is in theaters now. We in the Atlanta area can see it at the Tara on Cheshire Bridge Road. I’d urge anyone interested in how to make our schools better to see this film.

Below is an interview I did this morning with Zev Chafets, author of the new book Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One.

Love him or hate him, you can’t ignore Limbaugh, nor can you ignore his impact on the American political landscape. You must also acknowledge Rush’s impact on radio broadcasting. As Chafets says: “political talk radio, on the left and on the right, is Rush’s creation.”

I was fortunate to have received an advance copy of the book, read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you want to learn more about a major player on today’s political landscape, you need to read this book.

I hope you enjoy this interview.

Right click to download or simply click to listen.

You need to get to know Jenny Beth Martin from Cherokee County, one of the bigwigs at Smart Girl Politics and one of the main organizers of next week’s Tea Party in Atlanta. Last night she was on Pajamas TV, with others, talking about the Tea Parties.

If (thanks to people like Erick and Jenny Beth) Georgia becomes known as the epicenter of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, we Georgians will be unable to drive through Missouri anymore.

As I type, the death toll in the Mumbai attacks stands at 195 souls. The Mumbai terrorists have raised the stakes with these attacks, using well trained and coordinated attack teams to carry out their bloody mission. As Bill Roggio writes:

The Mumbai attack is unique from past terror strikes carried out by Islamic terrorists. Instead of one or more bombings at distinct sites, the Mumbai attackers struck throughout the city using military tactics. Instead of one or more bombings carried out over a short period of time, Mumbai I entering its third day of crisis.

An attack of this nature cannot be thrown together overnight. It requires planned, scouting, financing, training, and a support network to aid the fighters. Initial reports indicate the attacks originated from Pakistan, the hub of jihadi activity in South Asia. Few local terror groups have the capacity to pull of an attack such as this.

While it is early to know exactly what happened in Mumbai as the fog of war still blankets the city, multiple press reports from India allow for a general picture to be painted. An estimated 12 to 25 terrorists are believed to have entered Mumbai by sea. After landing, he attack teams initiated a battle at a police station, then fanned across the city to attack the soft underbelly of hotels, cafes, cinemas, and hospitals. Civilians were gunned down and taken hostage, while terrorists looked for people carrying foreign passports.

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To the victors may go the spoils, but misinterpreting the results of an election is always a danger. For example, in 1994 Republicans gained a majority in the Congress for two principal reasons: 1) the public was fed up with excesses of the Democratic Congress such as the Post Office Scandal and 2) Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich, proposed ten popular items called the Contract With America. Sadly, after the proposals contained within the Contract were dealt with, the GOP drifted away from the ideals that helped them get elected and by 2006 their majority was gone.

Democrats face a similar problem this year. Did the public endorse a radical left agenda that would include the Fairness Doctrine, the Employee Free Choice Act, the Freedom of Choice Act, and endless investigations of George Bush? I don’t think they did and if Democrats place these items at the top of their agenda they will suffer for it.

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In 1991 Clarence Thomas was nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court by then President George H.W. Bush. The attacks on Thomas that ensued were astounding and sought not only to defeat his nomination but to destroy his reputation and character. Never mind that the outrageous accusations were unproven, they were tools to try to stop Thomas from being on the Court. The ends justify the means.

When Thomas finally got the chance to speak for himself he said:

This is not a closed room. There was an FBI investigation. This is not an opportunity to talk about difficult matters privately or in a closed environment. This is a circus. It’s a national disgrace. And from my standpoint as a black American, as far as I’m concerned, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the US Senate rather than hung from a tree.

Thomas was eventually confirmed and has served with distinction on the Court.

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