Saturday, September 24, 2005
Georgia's Governor is an idiot
Maybe I'm wrong to be this upset, but I am furious about what happened in Georgia yesterday. Our illustrious Governor, Sonny Perdue, "requested" that all school systems in Georgia shut down on Monday and Tuesday to "preserve fuel." Of course, the county that I live in JUMPED at the the chance to have a 4 day weekend.
But here's my problem with this: The buses can't run on Monday and Tuesday morning because we have to preserve diesel fuel, but last night, the high school that my oldest daughter attends loaded up 2 buses worth of football players and 2 buses worth of band members (4 buses total) and drove them to a football game (afterall, it WAS homecoming). And I'm sure that our high school wasn't the only one that did that.
So let me get this straight; football, important; school, not-so important. Right? When I called the governor's office, they didn't have an answer to that question. The school board, however, told me that 3pm on Friday afternoon was just not enough time to cancel the sporting events for that weekend. Hmmm, but by 4pm, I knew that school was going to be closed on Monday and Tuesday, so why wasn't it enough time?
I'm not an idiot - I can understand the concept of "the refineries are shut down, we are trying to avoid a shortage on fuel," but my thoughts on that are - ok, we can't have the buses running on Monday and Tuesday. That's fine, but keep the school open - give me the option of taking my kids to school! According to the governor's office, the schools are shut down because they have also "requested" that the teachers and administrators stay home and not drive, so we can preserve fuel. But it's not only the schools - they've also "requested" that all businesses in the state of Georgia do the same! So basically, the Governor has "requested" that the state of Georgia completely shut down on Monday and Tuesday!
My husband is a self-employed contractor. If he doesn't work, we don't get paid. If we don't get paid, it's kind of hard to pay the power bill, the gas bill, the water bill - you know - the basics. Not to mention feeding these 5 kids here. I asked the guy in the governor's office if he'd like for me to forward those bills to Mr. Perdue, and where could I pick up my food stamps. Yeah, a smartassed comment, but they deserved it. At least the guy at the school board told me that he "understood my frustration." It wasn't going to change a goddamn thing, but he understood it.
But here's my problem with this: The buses can't run on Monday and Tuesday morning because we have to preserve diesel fuel, but last night, the high school that my oldest daughter attends loaded up 2 buses worth of football players and 2 buses worth of band members (4 buses total) and drove them to a football game (afterall, it WAS homecoming). And I'm sure that our high school wasn't the only one that did that.
So let me get this straight; football, important; school, not-so important. Right? When I called the governor's office, they didn't have an answer to that question. The school board, however, told me that 3pm on Friday afternoon was just not enough time to cancel the sporting events for that weekend. Hmmm, but by 4pm, I knew that school was going to be closed on Monday and Tuesday, so why wasn't it enough time?
I'm not an idiot - I can understand the concept of "the refineries are shut down, we are trying to avoid a shortage on fuel," but my thoughts on that are - ok, we can't have the buses running on Monday and Tuesday. That's fine, but keep the school open - give me the option of taking my kids to school! According to the governor's office, the schools are shut down because they have also "requested" that the teachers and administrators stay home and not drive, so we can preserve fuel. But it's not only the schools - they've also "requested" that all businesses in the state of Georgia do the same! So basically, the Governor has "requested" that the state of Georgia completely shut down on Monday and Tuesday!
My husband is a self-employed contractor. If he doesn't work, we don't get paid. If we don't get paid, it's kind of hard to pay the power bill, the gas bill, the water bill - you know - the basics. Not to mention feeding these 5 kids here. I asked the guy in the governor's office if he'd like for me to forward those bills to Mr. Perdue, and where could I pick up my food stamps. Yeah, a smartassed comment, but they deserved it. At least the guy at the school board told me that he "understood my frustration." It wasn't going to change a goddamn thing, but he understood it.
