I’ve got a confession to make. It embarasses me to say this, but I might as well come clean.

I have never - never - tried drugs, not even marijuana. No, I’m not saying I never inhaled, I never even touched a joint. I’m not bragging, and if I could go back in time, I’d have a little more fun in life, and that includes a toke now and then. But since I never started back then, I see no reason to start now.

My friends and family all know this about me, so they might be shocked at what I’m about to say. I say, let’s end the war on drugs - now. The simplest way to do that is to legalize drugs.

Just think about it for a moment. Legalizing drugs would put the dealers out of business overnight. The crime rate would drop dramatically and immediately. The police could focus their attention on other crimes, and maybe our police departments wouldn’t be perpetually understaffed and our prisons perpetually overcrowded.

I can hear the Blue-Haired Busybodies now: “Legalizing drugs would just encourage young people to try them!” But in countries where drugs are legal, the percentage of addicts isn’t any higher than in countries where they’re illegal. It would be easier to keep tabs on addicts, and perhaps provide them with healthcare and treatment for their addiction that they’re not getting now.

To me, addiction is an illness, and I think it’s wrong to penalize people because they’re sick. There are literally thousands of people in prison today whose crime is no more serious than possession, yet we can’t seem to jail the drug dealers, probably because they’ve got so damned much money. We’re losing the war on drugs, anyway, so let’s hurt them where it hurts the most — right in their Gucci wallets.

What brought on this tirade? The U.S. Supreme Court finally ruled that the huge disparity in sentencing between crack cocaine and powdered cocaine is unconstitutional. Immediately, people began lauding the decision, saying it’s only fair to sentence crack offenders as severely as powered cocaine offenders. Fine, but I say we take it a step further and legalize both kinds of cocaine, plus all the other illegal drugs, too.

Legalize it, regulate it and tax it. Make it affordable. Think of the money the government could raise - maybe even enough to fund healthcare for everyone,.improve the entire educational system in every neighborhood, the list is infinite.

We in Savannah have suffered because crack addicts are trying to hustle up enough money to buy a dime rock. Did you know that an estimated 85 percent of street crime is committed by crack addicts? I say, let’s give it to them, so they won’t hurt anyone else.

Legalizing drugs seems like such a logical thing to do, yet it won’t happen (at least not in my lifetime) because this country is far too puritanical in its views. Addiction is seen not just as a crime, but an assault to “decent morals.”

Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox now, but legalization would solve a lot of problems and garner a lot of revenue. Prohibition doesn’t work, and Americans of all people should know that. Once prohibition was repealed, the world didn’t suddently dissolve into moral decay.

And as far as educating our children about drugs, sex and anything else that can hurt them, we’ve still got a long way to go. But a field trip to show them a real crack addict and the effects of this insidious drug might do more good than a pretty little picture book in the classroom.

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Is it just me or is this really one of the grimmest Christmases ever seen? I’ve been keeping track of the neighbors’ Christmas displays, and I’ll bet only half as many who put up lights last year are doing it this year.
The stores are filled with shoppers, but no one seems to be buying anything. Business at the trolley joint where I work part-time has dropped to nothing and when there is a tour, no one tips.
I haven’t received — or sent, for that matter — one Christmas card. It’s as if the Grinch has grabbed hold of all of us.
It would be easy to blame the entire situation on the economy. After all, we have gas prices that never get too far away from the $3 mark, houses in foreclosure, credit card rates on the rise.
But if we’re letting fear of the future hold us back, we really are short-sighted. Some of the best things in life truly are free, and would make a tremendous difference in this lackluster holiday season.
Such as greeting people and giving them holiday well-wishes. Remembering the less fortunate, especially now that the economy is down. If everyone dropped a dollar, just a dollar, into those Salvation Army kettles, what a difference it would make.
So now I’m going to take a dose of my own medicine and wish you all a delightful Winter Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa, Happy New Year, or whatever else floats your boat. Just smile! It will be better again some day.

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If anyone was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, it was George W. Bush.

He’s perfected his good ol’ boy persona, but there really is nothing to connect him to the common people. That’s the only reason I can come up with to explain why the president of the richest, most powerful nation on earth could veto a bill that would help millions of poor children with no access to health care.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said it best: “Never has it been clearer how detached President Bush is from the priorities of the American people. By refusing a bipartisan bill to renew the successful Children’s Health Insurance Program, President Bush is denying health care ot millions of low-income kids in America.”

And this was a bipartisan bill. Bush not only shafted those children, he stuck it to his own party. The GOP has been scrambling like mad to do damage control in the wake of the backlash this veto has unleashed, not out of concern for the children, but because voters might see the veto as heartless. Why would he do such a thing? Because the bozo just doesn’t get it.

Bush was born to extreme wealth, a measure of wealth most of us can’t even imagine. It was enough money to buy him out of the draft and into the National Guard, not to mention Yale and its Skull and Bones secret society.

His parents never had the crushing dilemma of deciding whether to buy medicine or groceries for their family. They didn’t have to lie awake at night, listening to little W cough, and worrying, worrying, worrying because they didn’t have enough money to take him to the doctor.

He himself had no such worries with his family. But there is something in Bush’s past that should have made him and the entire Bush clan more compassionate about other people.’s suffering. That was the death of his little sister, Pauline Robinson Bush, who was nicknamed Robin.

Little Robin died in 1953 at the age of 3 from leukemia. Before she died, her parents went on a sad and futile search for specialists back East who could help their daughter. It didn’t help, but at least they had the means to try to save her life. Far too many parents in the United States don’t have the money to seek the help of specialists, even if special medical care could save their child’s life.

There are so many reasons to ensure every single child’s health, regardless of income, race or religion. They are the future leaders of our country, and by making sure they have immunizations and regular checkups today, we can save untold amounts of money by preventing future health problems tomorrow.

As far as I’m concerned, Sen. Reid is a hero. It’s obvious he has his finger on the pulse of the American people. Not only is he leading an effort to stem the metastasizing onslaught of home foreclosures, he’s a staunch critic of that blowhard and prescription-drug kingpin Rush Limbaugh..

Our own U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, on the other hand, is busy recruiting 50 co-sponsors for a House resolution, no less, to praise Limbaugh. What an awful waste of taxpayer’s money! I am utterly repulsed by the effort to praise someone who is as vile, hateful and repugnant as Rush Limbaugh. By the way, Kingston voted against the children’s health bill.

Reid is fighting to overcome Bush’s veto. The Senate approved the bill with enough votes to override the veto, but there weren’t enough votes in the House to override it. However, there’s still hope. If enough representatives change their minds, the veto can still be overridden.

This is where you come in. Phone, write or e-mail your representatives and tell them to support the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Let’s convince Jack Kingston he has something much more important to root for than Rush Limbaugh.

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Any amount of crime is too much crime. Let me say that right at the start.
However, I’m always a bit surprised when I hear people talk about Savannah’s crime problem. Is it really worse than anyplace else?
The little town I grew up in has just 6,000 people. Yet just now when I checked the Web site of the local daily, I read that yesterday, police were called to a scene where shots were fired, arrested a child molester in a city park near a group of children and investigated a robbery where a safe was broken into at a downtown business.
A year ago in that same town, two suspects were arrested in a torture/murder case. The man who was murdered apparently hadn’t paid for his cocaine.
When I lived there, we routinely had items stolen from our yard and our cars. And this small town is in a rural area. But crime happens everywhere — at least everywhere there are people.
At night, I drive a trolley for a local tour company. After my last tour, I’m always approached by people who are afraid to walk back to their hotels or parking places because they’ve heard Savannah is a high-crime area.
I tell them to just stay onboard the trolley and I drop them where they need to go. Yet in the nearly two years I’ve been driving the trolley, I haven’t seen one incident of crime, and I’m often out past midnight.
Maybe I’m just lucky. Maybe I’ve had some close calls I never knew about. Or maybe the problem isn’t as severe as some people have made it out to be.
It’s always good to be cautious, no matter where you are. Keep a look out for suspicious characters, and walk with your head up, acting with confidence, whether you feel safe or not.
But to spend your life in fear, refusing to venture downtown or leave your house after dark is extreme. I refuse to be held captive in my own home. And I refuse to believe that Savannah has a crime problem equal to or worse than that of New York City or Washington, D.C.

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Did anyone else say, “Well, duh!” on reading the headline at the top of this morning’s Savannah Morning News?
“Lynch: Don’t pull troops now.” Excuse me, but what else is 3rd Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch going to say? “I hate my job — please, bring us home”???
Of course not. No general is ever going to admit defeat while the conflict is going on. It would be career suicide.
What really amazes me is that the SMN would print this drivel as if it was news. Worse, they run a weekly column written by Lynch in which he writes about all the good things that are happening in Iraq. Puhleeze. Excuse me while I bring up a hairball: eeeRAFFFamarrflePOO.
And while we’re on the topic of Iraq, Bush has the nerve to say the only mistake made in Vietnam was leaving too early. And he’s serious! Of course, he has no way of actually knowing this since he wasn’t effing there.
So, you’re asking, what’s your take on Iraq, Miss Linda? Why don’t you tell us your views? Okay, I will.
1. The biggest mistake made so far in Iraq (other than choosing to go there in the first place) is trying to fight an unconventional enemy with a conventional war. These enemies refuse to play by the rules.
2. We went after the wrong guys. Sure, we got Saddam, but where is Osama? And what are he and his minions up to?
3. The present administration is comprised of liars and cheats who are greedy, selfish and far too arrogant to be allowed to fight a war. Yes, some of them finally are resigning after blatantly breaking the law, but we still have Mickey Mouse in the Oval Office.
4. Billions of dollars have been utterly wasted. Just think what could have been done with that money! Improved health care, better schools, and yes, better homeland security. Maybe we could have actually caught Osama by now.
5. We all should support the troops — by bringing them home and out of harm’s way. No one else should ever have to lose their son or daughter, husand or wife, father or mother because of this senseless war.
I have to admit I’m embarassed by the way Bush has handled the war and just about everything else he’s done. The world is laughing at us, folks. Laughing. And it ain’t even funny.

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Today, I’m feeling lucky to be alive. An idiot on I-16 nearly put me in an early grave this morning.
What is it with the many nutty drivers in and around Savannah, and in fact, the entire Southeast? Is it due to the fact that until recently, the state refused to mandate driver’s ed in high schools?
Don’t you love those people who drive in the left lane and refuse to move over to the right? Listen, people, if other drivers are passing you on the right (and maybe even glaring at you and flipping you the bird) you’re in the wrong lane. Move over!
This isn’t rocket science. It’s just plain old common sense, but that seems to be sadly lacking once usually normal people get behind the wheel.
I live in Effingham County and work in Savannah, so I see all kinds of idiots. Once in a while, the rolling circus actually can be pretty entertaining.
Like the morning I was headed to Savannah on GA 21, and somewhere between Rincon and Port Wentworth, came up behind two cars, one in the left lane, the other in the right, that were going exactly the same speed — 45 miles per hour. In a 55 mile per hour zone.
It was rush hour, and these bozos had people backed up on 21 as far as the eye could see. Now, the guy in the right lane legally hadn’t done anything wrong. If you really have nothing better to do than tie up rush hour traffic, you won’t get a ticket — as long as you stay in the right lane.
So even while everyone was mad at both bozos, we were really mad at the one who was blocking the left lane — the passing lane. Shit or get off the pot, buddy!
Now here’s the weird part. As we approached the intersection of 21 and I-95, where you’re supposed to slow down to 45 mph, Mr. Left Lane mysteriously speeded up. What he didn’t notice was the Port Wentworth police lined up overhead across the I-95 overpass.
The officers were using radar guns to catch speeders. Lots of squad cars — lots — were lined up on the sides of 21 to catch those speeders. And, yes, they stopped Mr.. Left Lane for speeding!!!
Can’t you imagine the conversation between that driver and the officer who stopped him? “But, honest, officer, I was going 10 miles under the speed limit for the past 10 miles!!!” Hoo hoo hoo hoo!!!
Best of all, the bozo probably saved a bunch of people who were trapped behind him from getting speeding tickets themselves. Ironic, ain’t it? But oh, so satisfying.

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Hello, and welcome to my blog. The boss says I have to do this, so here I am. (Don’t tell him, but I’m actually pretty excited about it.)
By day, I’m the News Editor for Connect Savannah, so you can expect me to have lots of opinions. This is the place where I can openly express them.
By night, I transform into a Spirit Conductor for Old Town Trolley Tours’ Ghosts & Gravestones tour. It’s amazing how my two jobs intertwine and enhance each other.
During my free time (ha ha ha), I love to read, cook, eat, create polymer clay art and jewelry and write fiction. Just about anything is likely to turn up here, but for now, I’m going to submit this and see if this thing actually works,

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