Opinion

Dr. Tommy Hopkins, chairman of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, gave the commencement address at Gordon State College May 12, 2017. His remarks follow:

Thanks to President Burns of Gordon State College for the kind introduction and the invitation to be here today. I’ve had much exposure to the excellent nursing program and the students that do their clinical work in Griffin. Barnesville is a great community and I’ve been close to the school, friends, and bankers for many years. I’m excited to be on campus and honored to join you as you celebrate your graduation with your families and friends. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

Since moving to Yatesville a couple of years ago, we’d gone to the movies in Macon, Griffin, and McDonough.

We’d never visited the Ritz Theater in Thomaston.

That changed last week. We drove over to watch the new Guardians of the Galaxy film. The movie is a lot of fun. I recommend it. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

In a few months, we may see the first image of a black hole. This is exciting! Scientists trained the radio telescopes of eight observatories ranging from Antarctica to Hawaii to Spain on two black holes, one located at the center of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, and another in a galaxy known as M87. [Full Story »] 

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Yep, it’s baseball season.

I remember the day I fell in love with baseball. It was 1965 or so. A friend invited me to go with him and his family to watch a game at Gordon Military College. After the game, one of the Bulldogs gave me a cracked bat (this was in the dark ages, before aluminum bats, speaking of which, the “ping of the bat” can’t compete with the “crack of the bat”). [Full Story »] 

It is Holy Week, the time of year when Christians celebrate the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Spring begins on March 20, the vernal equinox. Easter has long been observed on the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring. That is why the date of the Easter observance varies from year to year.

That is the tradition of the dating of Easter but there is evidence of resurrection all around you if you will just look for it. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

Unless you’ve been on a vacation to the moon (and if you have, I wish you’d taken me with you), you are aware that on March 24, the Republican leadership of the United States House of Representatives pulled the American Health Care Act (AHCA) from consideration before it could be voted on. They did so because they didn’t have the votes to pass it. [Full Story »] 

Obviously, I am in the information business but I submit to you that we now live in an era of information overload.

We have data at our fingertips. Our cellphones can access more data instantly than all the dictionaries, encyclopedias and other reference materials ever published.

Easy access to endless information can be both a blessing and a curse.

Sometimes we suffer under the onslaught of too much information. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

It was 1950, and some scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico were walking to lunch.

Along the way, they talked about some recent reports of UFOs and a New Yorker cartoon that attributed the recent disappearances of New York City trash canisters to alien activity. [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

I silently chafe when I hear Social Security referred to as an entitlement program though, technically, it is one.

That language originates from Social Security falling under Title II of the Social Security Act. Thus the root word ‘title’.

Once you meet all the qualifications to receive Social Security benefits (meeting the age and work credit requirements), you are ‘entitled’ to receive benefits. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

I want to understand people. I want to understand why people – all people – are who they are, why they think the way they think, why they believe what they believe, why they say what they say, and why they do what they do. What would such understanding require?

It would require that I be Muslim. It would require that I be an immigrant. It would require that I be a woman. It would require that I be poor. It would require that I be black. It would require that I be Russian. It would require that I be Jewish. It would require that I be unemployed. It would require that I be a high school dropout. It would require that I be a factory worker. It would require that I be an inner city resident. [Full Story »] 

Though the United States has had an Office of Education dating back to 1865, the federal Department of Education as we now know it was not formed until 1980. Federal interest in education blossomed under President Lyndon Johnson’s failed War on Poverty which has never been won and will not be won no matter how many taxpayer dollars are spent on it.

President Jimmy Carter formed the current federal education department in 1980, combining several smaller departments.

The original education budget was $140 million. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

It was the late great Mr. C.E. Julian, esteemed teacher of history at Lamar County High School, who taught me that Lamar County was named for a man named L.Q.C. Lamar. I don’t think he told us that “L.Q. C.” stood for “Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus” but it did.

(By the way, he was actually L.Q.C. II - yep, they actually named him after his father, who was already saddled with that name that sounded like a law firm in a gladiator movie. Also by the way, I once asked my father why he didn’t name me after him. He said, “You must be kidding. Would you really want to go through life being called Little Champ?”) I also don’t think Mr. Julian told us that John F. Kennedy devoted a chapter to L.Q.C. Lamar in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Profiles in Courage (1955) - but he did. [Full Story »] 

Recently I was driving along listening to WSB radio’s news coverage of the death of one child and the maiming of another as they were walking to their Atlanta School bus stop. They were attacked by pit bulls allowed to roam free by their owner or owners.

One of the dogs attacked responding police and was shot dead. The other was hunted down, captured and euthanized. Sadly, the charges against the irresponsible owner are not serious enough. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

The dialogue in lots of good movies and television shows contains profanity. I don’t always mind. In fact, as one who works in words, I can even appreciate the occasional well-placed curse word, especially if it fits the character speaking it and if it helps to communicate true feelings.

I mean, let’s face it: if Rhett Butler had said, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a hoot,” the line wouldn’t have gone down in history. And it would have sounded silly. [Full Story »]