By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | Two groups which we oppose have made surprising progress this year. We refer to those wanting the Georgia Legislature to approve gambling and medical marijuana in Georgia. We don’t think these are good ideas.
These groups have insidiously made their way into the minds of many people extolling the virtues of casino gambling and introducing emotion on the medical use of marijuana. They even want horse racing and pot growing in Georgia.
Even the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has come under their influence, with a story saying Sunday that a poll shows Georgia voters want to approve both measures. Remember, it’s merely a poll. We don’t think this poll is right, for we think the majority of reasonable-minded Georgians would disapprove of both measures.
We, too, like the poll, could be wrong. Yes, we know that Georgia voters have substantially changed in recent years, even moving to the right politically. But that doesn’t mean that Georgians want to see casino gambling which some say will “bring more tax revenues” (bull) to Georgia. And while those advocating medical marijuana do so to relieve “the suffering of those with cancer, diabetes, arthritis and the common cold,” we don’t believe those are the conservative values of most Georgians.
Yet those advocating these two undesirable ventures have done an amazing public relations maneuver in the last year on keeping their message before the people. But that doesn’t make it right.
Watch out! The Georgia Legislature has just convened.
Anything can happen.
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Here are two recommendations of recent movies we have seen.
Saturday we saw The Big Short, a movie which tackles the job of explaining to U.S. citizens what caused the recent recession. You remember, the time when everything seem to tank, from housing, to jobs, to Wall Street and your and my pocketbook?
This stock market crash came from a most complicated maneuvering on Wall Street. New types of financial devices were created, all aided and abetted by the big Wall Street financial firms, the government, the bond rating agencies, traders gaining big bonuses, and all smiling as everyone enjoyed the success of the American economic system.
Then everything went south. Yet a few people, the ones recognizing what was really happening when everyone else thought the other way, made big bucks.
Go see this picture. It’s a beautiful explanation of how all this took place. There are no special effects of building exploding, or magical encounters, or other devices, but an extraordinary movie on an important subject. Those predicting the Academy Awards say this picture is worthy, and could cop many honors for its innovative way of explaining this subject.
It’s worthy of your dollar.
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Another movie may not cost you anything more, if you have a Netflix subscription. We purely stumbled on My Afternoons with Margueritte on Netflix. It’s a sentimental French film, with subtitles, which you should see simply to enjoy a good movie, though The New York Times panned it.
It’s a story of an unlettered middle-aged Frenchman, something of an oaf and the small village buffoon, who happens to talk with a 95-year-old woman one day who was sitting on a bench watching the pigeons. This first conversations blossoms into a nice friendship, and the story breaks out into a delightful escapade involving reading, understanding and caring.
Though it has subtitles, these are surprisingly well done, and don’t take away from the story. The 2011 movie didn’t win accolades from many critics, but it’s a good story, and one we enjoyed tremendously.
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