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FORT GORDON, Ga., Oct. 8, 2009 – A sudden accident may have cost Army Staff Sgt. Luis Elias his hand, but it hasn't stripped him of his positive attitude or impacted his plans for the future. Army Staff Sgt. Luis Elias performs a push-up. The soldier is receiving treatment at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center Active Duty Rehabilitation Unit in Augusta, Ga. U.S. Army photo by Charmain Z. Brackett  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "Hopefully, in about a month or so, I'll be back to being a drill sergeant," said Elias, who is receiving treatment at the Charlie...

Willie NAILS IT with his comments. Just about every blog out there has now posted this video from CNN yesterday from the “Ron Clark Academy kids” … but other than Allah at Hot Air … most failed to post the best part. It comes about 20 seconds in. Once again it’s little Willie who stands apart from the rest. Remember Willie is the young man, the only one in the group, who last fall said he would be voting for McCain. Listen to him here and remember … the song they wrote and are about to sing is PRO Obama...

Jonathan Escobar says he chooses to wear clothes that express himself. Skinny jeans, wigs, "vintage" clothing and makeup are the staples of his wardrobe. "I don't consider myself a cross-dresser," he said. "This is just who I am." But the 16-year-old says an assistant principal at North Cobb High School told him last week he needed to dress more "manly" for school, or consider being home-schooled. He had only been a student at the school for three days. "I told myself I can't accept this," said Escobar, who wore a pink wig to school last Wednesday. Escobar said the assistant...

Georgia Jury Finds Man Guilty Of Six-Year-Old Child's Murder Reported by: Monday, Oct 5, 2009 @04:33pm (Brunswick, GA) -- It took a jury in Brunswick, Georgia less than two hours Monday afternoon to convict David Edenfield of abducting, molesting and murdering six-year-old Christopher Barrios two years ago. Edenfield showed no emotion when the panel announced guilty verdicts on nine counts related to Barrrios' slaying. In his closing argument to the jury, District Attorney Stephen Kelley said Edenfield's own words describing how he sodomized and then choked the six-year-old to death convicted him. Kelley played portions of a DVD recording of...

Congressman Dr Paul Broun will be on FOX Strategy Room Live Today at 4 pm Eastern time...

The Warriors of Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High took the field on Friday night without any Bible verses written on the cheerleaders' banner. Instead, the football team ran through a banner that read "This is Big Red Country" before each bent on a knee to pray on the field of Tommy Cash Stadium. The spirited display comes after the school district banned the banners last week over concerns they were unconstitutional and could provoke a lawsuit, angering many in the deeply religious north Georgia town of Fort Oglethorpe. "I'm just kind of unnerved about it," said 18-year-old Cassandra Cooksey, a recent graduate...

Mosley drops bid to be challenger to U.S. Rep. John Barrow Vidalia doctor was preparing quest to challenge Democrat John Barrow A Republican who said he'd spend $500,000 of his own money in an effort to oust U.S. Rep. John Barrow in 2010 has quit the race. Wayne Mosley, a Vidalia doctor and former Army lieutenant colonel, e-mailed the news to his supporters Thursday. Mosley widely had been considered the strongest of three GOP would-be challengers to Savannah Democrat Barrow. "I think so," said Savannah political consultant David Simons, "especially because of the money." During the past two years, Mosley...

A high school cheerleading squad is getting flak after parading religious banners at football games. The Lakeview-Fort Oglethrope High School cheerleaders, of Georgia, have tried everything to get their team to win, including displaying football banners with such biblical verse as “commit to the lord” and “take charge of it,” according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Ga. suspect in Ala. deputy death had long record COLUMBUS, Ga. -- A Georgia man had been booked into a jail 16 times in the past 11 years and was on parole from a 2007 felony drug conviction when charged with capital murder in the death of an Alabama deputy last week, the Ledger-Enquirer reported. The Columbus newspaper reported Sunday that Gregory Lance Henderson, 31, had been ordered to serve three years in prison in 2007 but was out on parole after about 15 months when arrested in the death Thursday of Lee County Deputy James Anderson, 39. The Columbus...

A Lovejoy mother is facing up to 70 years in prison after a jury found her guilty of starving her twin sons nearly to death. A Clayton County jury found Tessa Zelek guilty of all eight counts Thursday after deliberating for about an hour. Zelek, 25, stared straight ahead and showed no emotion as the jury read the verdict. The only time she showed much emotion during the four-day trial was when prosecutors brought her sons, now 3, into the courtroom. That was the first time she had seen her sons, Ashton and Avery McCart, since they were 13 months...

Going back to Mexico is not an option, said the 43-year-old man, kneeling next to his wife's wheelchair.His wife, 45, lost her eyesight to diabetes. She also has high blood pressure. And her kidneys are failing. For years, he has taken her to a dialysis clinic attached to a public hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. The facility that gave her free care plans to close Saturday. They are illegal immigrants with no health insurance and, they say they have nowhere to go for his wife's vast medical needs. The closing clinic offered to help return them to Mexico...the latest known case...

President Obama has declared the U.S. territory of American Samoa a major disaster after an undersea earthquake caused a tsunami and massive flooding that has reportedly killed more than 80 people in the South Pacific Samoan Islands. The declaration makes federal funding available to people in American Samoa, which has a population of about 65,000 people.

ATLANTA -- Nine homeless sex offenders directed to live in the woods behind a suburban Atlanta office park have been ordered to move and are scrambling to find new places to go. The sex offenders were searching for a new place to set up their tents Tuesday after state authorities told them they had to leave the area. They had been directed to the spot by probation officers who said it was a location of last resort for the sex offenders barred from living in many areas by one of the nation's toughest sex offender policies. William Hawkins is a...

Many atheopaths1 and their compromising churchian allies claim that biblical belief and science are mortal enemies. Yet historians of science, even non-Christians, have pointed out that modern science first flourished under a Christian world view while it was stillborn in other cultures such as ancient Greece, China and Arabia. The historical basis of modern science depended on the assumption that the universe was made by a rational Creator. An orderly universe makes perfect sense only if it were made by an orderly Creator (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:33). For example, evolutionary anthropologist and science writer Loren Eiseley stated:...

Warner Robins Mayor Donald Walker died this afternoon of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, says Bibb County coroner Leon Jones. He said Walker was pronounced dead at 1:49 p.m. at the Medical Center of Central Georgia. Congressman Jim Marshall released this statement: "We're shocked by the news of Mayor Walker's death. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. His exceptional legacy as mayor will be difficult to match. His is truly a life worth celebrating." Warner Robins police say they got a call around 11:30 a.m. from Walker's Hickory Avenue home. Walker was taken from his home...

Bethea said federal officials tested the river and found the E. coli bacteria level was 42 times greater than the highest safe level. “There is no way you want to get in or even touch water [this dirty],” Bethea said. “I’ve never seen the water so filthy. It was just filthy, and it didn’t smell very good in some places.” The river tour also found massive shoreline damage, including collapsed banks and fallen trees. --snip-- The U.S. Park Service on Wednesday shut down use of portions of the Chattahoochee, citing the dumping of raw sewage from broken sewage lines in...

State and municipal governments, struggling with sinking revenue, are raising money by levying fees on consumers, slapping local businesses with back taxes and tweaking tax laws in ways that force many businesses to pay more. That is leading to accusations -- and, in some cases, lawsuits -- that governments are trying to rake in more money without officially raising taxes, sometimes illegally. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which can't easily raise taxes without a referendum, has approved a controversial cigarette "fee" of 20 cents a pack that takes effect next month. Last week, five retailing groups sued New York...

Georgian Bank, Atlanta, Georgia, was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with First Citizens Bank and Trust Company, Inc., Columbia, South Carolina, to assume all of the deposits of Georgian Bank. The five branches of Georgian Bank will reopen on Monday as branches of First Citizens Bank. Depositors of Georgian Bank will automatically become depositors of First Citizens Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need...

Simmons Co., the maker of Beautyrest mattresses, said Friday that it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a move that will put new owners in charge of the bedding unit and significantly lower the company's debt. Sales have slumped for mattress makers as consumers pull back on their spending amid the recession, especially limiting their purchases of big ticket items like mattresses.

Now that most of the flood waters in the Atlanta suburbs have receded the residents are struggling to find what, if anything, they can salvalge from their homes. Many of the homes weren't in a flood zone and so the owners weren't required to carry flood insurance. This isn't a case of people building homes in flood prone areas. This event was unprecedented in its proportions. The official federal reponse has been a phone call from President Obama to Governor Perdue in which the President expressed his condolences. We've also been assured that Mr. Obama's people are watching the situation....

Flooding in north Georgia that killed nine people caused $250 million worth of damage to property and tens of millions of dollars more damage to infrastructure, the state insurance commissioner said on Wednesday.

Just about everyone in Connecticut wishes Pratt & Whitney would keep its Cheshire and East Hartford plants open, with their 1,000 good-paying jobs, 3,000 to 6,000 jobs indirectly related to Pratt's operations, lavish tax payments to local and state government, and all of the other benefits such employers bestow on their communities. But do Connecticut residents really believe it's acceptable and appropriate to chain Pratt to the state? Is this the impression they want to give present and future businesses— once you're in our clutches, you have to stay here or we'll tie you up in federal court? Worse still,...

Parts of Georgia have been covered by water and at least 8 are dead following massive flooding. Georgia’s governor has declared a state of emergency in the 17 counties hardest hit by flooding from severe weather.

ATLANTA — Floodwaters that swept across the rain-soaked Southeast killed at least three people and left five others missing Monday, including a Georgia toddler who disappeared after a mobile home was split apart by a swollen creek. Three Georgia motorists died when their vehicles were swept off Atlanta-area roads, and some major highways were submerged. Officials urged motorists to stay off the roads as a new line of storms threatened the area. Fast-moving water also swept away a Tennessee man who went swimming in an overflowing ditch on a dare. Crews in northwest Georgia worked furiously to shore up a...

Jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney says it will eliminate 1,000 jobs in Connecticut by 2011 as it transfers work to Georgia and Asia.

ATLANTA — Authorities are searching for a toddler who was swept away in a rain-swollen creek in west Georgia after heavy rains and thunderstorms rolled across the Southeast. Authorities in Carroll County, near the Alabama line, say the child went missing at around 4 a.m. Monday. Emergency Management Director Tim Padgett did not know the child's gender or exact age, but estimated the child to be around 2 years old. At least two other people have died in floodwaters in Georgia and another is missing in Tennessee as rows of thunderstorms drenched the Southeast. Forecasters issued flood alerts for parts...

'A throwback to Hitlerian racism." A recent description of public debate in the eighth circle of polemic hell? No, that was the Rev. Jesse Jackson hurling an accusation at Democratic presidential aspirant Jimmy Carter 33 years ago. Vitriol wasn't invented this summer. Carter incensed Jackson during his 1976 presidential campaign when the former Georgia governor declared "there's nothing wrong with ethnic purity being maintained" in a neighborhood. It was as jarring a phrase then as it is now, but Carter was in search of votes among the white ethnic urban Democratic primary voters hostile to government housing programs that brought...

Downpour didn’t dampen the anger of about 60 demonstrators who stood under umbrellas on the steps of an empty Atlanta City Hall on Saturday to protest a police raid on a gay nightclub. “We were mugged by the police,” said Mike Alvear, 50, of Midtown, a community activist and the host of HBO’s ‘The Sex Inspectors.’ “They stole our dignity the same way crooks steal our wallets.” Danni Lynn Harris, the Police Department’s liaison to the gay community, asked the crowd to let the internal affairs unit investigate the Sept. 10 raid of Atlanta Eagle on Ponce de Leon Avenue....

Georgia Rep. John Lewis, one of Washington's most prominent Democrats, called the White House earlier this year to try to block the appointment of a federal prosecutor who won convictions against more than a dozen public officials in Atlanta -- including former Mayor Bill Campbell, a longtime friend and ally of Mr. Lewis. After queries from The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Lewis' contacted White House Counsel Greg Craig late last month to withdraw his objections to the nomination of the prosecutor, Sally Q. Yates, for U.S. Attorney in Atlanta. Two government officials with knowledge of the matter described the calls....

It's just one state. But it’s one of the centers of African-American culture and influence in the nation. Atlanta, with nearly 6 million residents in its metro area, is home to hundreds of top black musicians and other entertainers, civil rights leaders, and business entrepreneurs. Janet Jackson, Usher, Tyler Perry, and Andrew Young are just a handful of the many big names that can be found moving about the Georgia city on a given day. That's why I was startled when our firm, InsiderAdvantage, conducted this past week two separate surveys about various issues for corporate clients in the area....

Here are some confirmed events for October 17th, 2009 SAN DIEGO, CA - NBC Studios 225 Broadway - 3:00PM see page 5 ATLANTA, GA - CNN Center corner of Marietta St. and Centennial Olympic Park Drive - time TBA see page 3 ASHEVILLE, NC - ABC aff. WLOS see website for location and time see page 5

The increasingly ironically named Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, better known as ACORN, might as well take down its shingle. Turns out ACORN itself is in dire need of reforming. Now, however, the organization's reputation is so shot that only those who think their particular political side can do absolutely no wrong are blinded enough to support the organization, whose claims that ACORN's troubles are all due to a few misguided employees and a concerted attack by the far right sound increasingly hollow and desperate. The left-leaning group came under fire last year in the presidential campaign when...

It wasn't enough for former President Jimmy Carter to falsely accuse critics of Barack Obama of being racists; now he's added a blood libel. Carter reiterated his belief that all disagreements with Obama are "based on the fact that he is a black man" Tuesday. Last night MSNBC's Keith Olbermann thanked Carter for rendering this "service" during a forum in Atlanta, where Carter said: The outbursts that we see of this scatalogical language -- the sign that I saw on television last night "We should bury Obama with Kennedy," for instance (audible gasps in the audience)...Those kind of things are...

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. -- No more Cracker Barrel restaurants ever for one Georgia man. The company has banned the man accused of beating a mother at one of its restaurants from all of its locations for life. Investigators in Clayton County said Troy West beat Tasha Hill at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Morrow while yelling racial slurs after he nearly hit her 7-year-old daughter while opening the restaurant's door. Cracker Barrel Bans Suspect From Restaurant For Life The beating is leading some state lawmakers to consider pushing for a Georgia Hate Crime Law. "It's past time, but there again,...

ATLANTA - Gov. Sonny Perdue announced today that the state of Georgia is severing all ties with the liberal-leaning ACORN organization once its current contract expires in 13 days. "In July," Perdue said in a statement released today by his office, "I directed my office to review all consulting contracts the state has with outside vendors to look for budget savings; that review did not identify the ACORN contract, because it does not involve state funds. "The state of Georgia will not renew the contract, which expires in 13 days. Further, I have issued an executive order that prevents executive...

Sept 16, 2009 — This month finds us two thirds of the way between Darwin’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of his Origin of Species. Taking advantage of the extra attention Darwin is getting this year (as if he needed more), three films on his life and ideas are being released from three different companies...

U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land tossed out on Wednesday a complaint by an Army captain fighting deployment to Iraq by questioning the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s presidency. Land also put attorney Orly Taitz, who represents Capt. Connie Rhodes and is a leader in the national “birther” movement, on notice by stating that she could face sanctions if she ever again files in his court a similar “frivolous” lawsuit.

(CNN) -- The FBI is investigating as a possible hate crime an incident in which a woman was beaten to the ground in front of her child at the entrance to a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Morrow, Georgia, south of Atlanta. Troy Dale West Jr., of Poulan, Georgia, is facing charges including misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct after allegedly beating Army reservist Tashawnea Hill, 35, after the two had words at the entrance of the Morrow, Georgia, restaurant the evening of September 9. Hill, an African-American, told police that West, 47, yelled racial epithets at her as the attack took...

In an case of real life imitating Hollywood, the US scientific community is increasingly concerned that two nonnative python breeds currently slithering free in south Florida could morph into a giant man-eating swamp coil. The capture of five African rock pythons recently near an Everglades already teeming with the gentler Burmese pythons has scientists worried about so-called "hybrid vigor" – a phenomenon that occurs when interbreeding uncorks volatile recessive genes, passing traits such as aggression onto the offspring. Think Africanized bees. The two species have interbred in captivity. While Burmese pythons aren't known to eat people in their native habitat,...

Former President Jimmy Carter has accused critics of Barack Obama of racism following an outburst by a Republican congressman. Does he have a point? BY TOM CHIVERS President Jimmy Carter says that criticism of Barack Obama shows that there is an “inherent feeling” in America that a black man should not be President. It follows the South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson shouting “you lie!” during a speech by the President to Congress.

What is WRONG with these racebaiters?[VIDEO AT SITE] "I guess we'll have folks putting on white hoods and robes again and riding through the countryside intimidating people." -- Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) Congressman Wilson is the "face" of the new KKK?These are the words and thoughts of the congressman who replaced the nutjob Cynthia McKinney, famous for slapping a Capitol Hill policeman who didn't recognize her and asked for her I.D. Apparently, she's not the only racebaiting fool in Georgia's 4th Congressional District. Besides, the only member of the U.S. Congress who DID wear the white hood is U.S. Senator...

Jimmy Carter: Wilson Comments 'Based on Racism' ASSOCIATED PRESS September 15, 2009 ATLANTA (AP) -- Former President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday that U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst to President Barack Obama during a speech to Congress last week was an act ''based on racism'' and rooted in fears of a black president. ''I think it's based on racism,'' Carter said at a town hall held at his presidential center in Atlanta. ''There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president.'' The Georgia Democrat said the outburst was a part of a disturbing...

Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst last week is drawing new recriminations from his colleagues, with a member of the Congressional Black Caucus suggesting that a failure to rebuke the South Carolina Republican is tantamount to supporting the most blatant form of organized racism in American history. In an obvious reference to the Ku Klux Klan, Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said Tuesday that people will be putting on "white hoods and white uniforms again and riding through the countryside" if emerging racist attitudes, which he says were subtly supported by Wilson, are not rebuked. He said Wilson must be disciplined as an...

FOX News: Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst last week drew new recriminations from his colleagues Tuesday, with a member of the Congressional Black Caucus suggesting that a failure to rebuke the South Carolina Republican would be tantamount to supporting the most blatant form of organized racism in American history. In an obvious reference to the Ku Klux Klan, Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said Tuesday that people will be putting on "white hoods and white uniforms again and riding through the countryside" if emerging racist attitudes, which he says were subtly supported by Wilson, are not rebuked. He said Wilson must be...

Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst last week is drawing new recriminations on the House floor, with a member of the Congressional Black Caucus suggesting that a failure to rebuke Wilson is tantamount to supporting the most blatant form of organized racism in American history. In an obvious reference to the KKK, Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said Tuesday that people will put on "white hoods and ride through the countryside" if emerging racist attitudes, which he says were subtly supported by Wilson, are not rebuked. He said Wilson must be disciplined as an example. ~~ The punishment is expected take the form...

Former Carter press secretary Jody Powell dies WASHINGTON – Jody Powell, who was White House press secretary and among the closest and most trusted advisers to President Jimmy Carter, died Monday of a heart attack. Powell, a member of the so-called Georgia Mafia that descended on Washington after Carter was elected president, died at his home near Cambridge on Maryland's eastern shore, said Jack Nelson, a retired reporter and close friend of Powell. He was 65. Nelson said Powell had been working with firewood with a helper who briefly stepped away. Powell was discovered a short time later on the...

WASHINGTON – A close associate says Jody Powell, who was White House press secretary during Jimmy Carter's presidency, has died. Powell, a Georgia native known for his deep Southern drawl, worked on Carter's presidential campaign in 1976 and served as the Carter's spokesman between 1977 and 1981. The cause of death was not immediately known.

The surviving children of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King are back in court, wrangling over their parents' estates. The Rev. Bernice King and Martin Luther King III sued their brother, Dexter King, last year ... A hearing in the case was set Monday morning. Dexter King also sued his sister, who administers their mother's estate. .. including love letters central to a now-defunct $1.4 million book deal.

From Orly Taitz Facebook page: Judge Land in the Middle district of GA continued hearing of Cpt Connie Rhodes, MD v Obama et al to tomorrow, Monday 09.14.09. 12 noon. I need patriots in the courtroom to support Connie. I am taking yet another red eye to GA, my eyes are really getting red

We attended the event held at the Forsyth County Courthouse.