#2

First, I'm offended you would think beautiful women and faithful men are rare. Not in my house!!

Now, give this a thought: What about counting registered voters as a vote. Then the 80% that don't vote are actually casting a No vote for the candidates on the ballot. Majority wins so that means no candidate wins. Isn't that the real problem? Not apathy toward voting but disgust with the opportunities.

I voted in November 2008 and I assure you I am not happy with Mr. Obooboo. But neither was I happy with Mr. McCain as the alternative. Instead of blaming the majority of registered voters for not voting, maybe we should have counted their votes and sent no one to the white house. Things couldn't have been worse than the way things are with the current administration.

Not voting IS a vote!!

David...Not voting is not voting. The reason we don't equate not showing up as a no vote is because (1) with respect to candidates there is not a NO vote. You can only vote FOR someone. (2) Those who stay home and do not participate shouldn't be equated with those who understand that voting is a responsibility of citizenship. This year I am celebrating my 30th year of never missing an election. Why should my being responsible be equal to those who are not?

The biggest fear? The uninformed voter. The answers to much of the questions concerning politics at a Miss America contest were apalling. Who is the Vice President of the United States? "Uh...Oh! Wow! I can't believe I dont' know this!" and that wasn't just one contestant. Ashamed to tell how many.
Who does the uninformed voter vote for? The popular one or one that "looks" or "sounds" good. God help us if this is the majority of people who vote in November.

Floyd, thanks for taking responsibility for the disaster we have in local, state, and federal government today. I was certain it was your fault but didn't want to accuse you without evidence.

Tammy, really? You're comparing American voters to Miss America contestants? God help us if everyone is as dumb as them.

David...I think the point that Tammy is trying to make is...unfortunately...we are a nation filled with Beauty Contestants that have no clue about government. She is right.

In the last presidential election, I can not tell you how many times that I'd heard people repeating sound bites but did not have the facts to back up what they had heard. Unfortunately, this is the MTV/VH1 Culture that we have nowadays.

However, I will say that I think that government is the biggest culprit that leads to voter apathy. When government continues to do things that aren't in the best interests of the people then people get turned off from voting. I think the parties love this...as it ups their odds of keeping things the way they are.....with out of control spending on both sides of the aisle....

Think about it....has spending been under control within either party for the past 12 years?

This seven-minute http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo video by C.G.P. Grey is a sound (albeit fast!) explanation of why it's nigh impossible to effect real change within the current election system. (His other videos are really good, too, IMO.)

I used to think that FPTP was pretty awesome, now I realize that it's pretty awful. (I still vote, though.)

As the Director of the Miss Memorial Day Organization, I recognized that our youth were NOT being taught or told about politics, government or patriotism! The lack of the USA contestants knowing about politics is not a pageant issue, this is a parent issue! If you were to go to a high school weight room and ask 51 boys, "WHO is the vice president of the USA, you would see the same sad number of wrong answers! IF you were to go to Publix and ask 50 shoppers who is the vice president of the US, again you would see just how out of touch the general public is with their government! It is not a beauty pageant issue, it is a citizen ISSUE! In an effort to correct this issue our "beauty queens" are schooled in politics, government, and patriotic events! They designed the float that honored our Veterans that won, "Most Patriotic Float", they met with 90 year old Veterans on Memorial Day, they rubbed tattoos & face painted at the Dacula Festival & raise money to help build homes for two Wounded Warriors, they will be meeting the Governor & learning about how a bill becomes a law & this Thursday they will be registering new voters as they host the "2012 YOUR VOTE COUNTS Debate at Stars and Strikes. If you notice something missing in your community, don't complain, FIX IT! Beauty Pageant contestant are easy targets for complainers. APATHY is not a bad thing when so many citizens are so uninformed! Will you be at the debate or in front of a TV on Thursday night? EDUCATE & VOTE!

Since Donald Trump took over the MISS USA pageant, he has changed it to a model looking winner with the "IT" factor. Of the top five winners, Miss GA included, I was impressed with their community service, intelligence & abilities. Miss Georgia seemed to be the "youngest" contestant with her answers but the other four were impressive and well chosen for their obvious stature & abilities. The girls that did not know their vice president did not make the cut! As a pageant coach & judge, we are always looking for that one girl with the WHOLE package. What good would it do to choose a girl that knows all the presidents in order & their years served, if she can not communicate that information or worse is afraid to be in the public eye. We are looking for a girl with the "IT" factor, not the IQ factor. Being smart is a wonderful accomplishment as it attest to one's ability to be focused, disciplined, & accomplished. It show a personality of goal setting & follow through, as does playing an instrument or running your own nonprofit. When a judge finds a girl that is fit, outgoing, speaks well, has a vocabulary that is void of,"SHE SAID, LIKE YOU KNOW,and YEAH!" that is a rare girl these days. You can tell she has been schooled in things other than the mall on Friday nights. You can normally find her doing community service work on the weekends as she strives to help her community to become a better place. AGAIN,what have you done lately for your community besides complain?

What in the world does being divorced have to do with voting? If I get divorced I'm no longer smart enough to vote???????????
Geez...

"...Unfortunately, this is the MTV/VH1 Culture that we have nowadays..." Thanks, Greg, that was exactly my point. And, thanks, Cynthia, I wanted to be able to explain that those were the ones that got cut, but no room for the whole story. Good news is, though, that the southern girls won out as being the most informed - woo hoo!

Sorry David, NOT VOTING is a sign of "opting out" instead of fixing the problem. It may take two or three elections to turn us around but to stand back and not take control is for the lazy, yes I said it L A Z Y! Not voting is for the UNINFORMED and COMPLAINERS! As I said above, I do not want lazy, uninformed, complainers deciding my financial future. Let them stay home. NGW, the point was to begin to restrict voting rights so that it will begin to become a thing of value! I had to make up classes to prove a point. As for divorced people, they have been through enough why make them have to worry about such an important issue until they get their lives back in order. But for some getting a divorce might free up their minds to take on new adventures!

Only property owners vote? You would have made a wonderful medieval feudal lord. If there's one thing conservatives hate more than the American worker it's democracy. Since you started a list how about this one: If your primary source of information is FOX News and conservative talk radio, you are not allowed to vote.

MR B, Better Fox News that the slimy swill that they serve up on those laughable distasteful dumbocratic talk shows, I tried to listen to this election. I just could not believe that any sane person could listen to the mundane inexcusable babble that they serve up as truth! I am on the MOVE ON. ORG email list. I just laugh at how sad it is that millions get that tripe each week and are lead like sheep to the slaughter by those out of touch moron gatekeepers. I now know how Hitler rose to power! No rest for the weary, come join us, Mr B at the Stars and Strikes on Hwy 8 and Hwy 316 on Thursday night, at 6pm and see how this party has put a CHOICE before the voting public this year. I applaud the citizens and candidates for taking back their government. Evil men are lurking all about but, it only takes one to remove them. If you don't have a dog in the fight, a dollar in the bet, or any skin in the trade, you are not as worried as the man whom does. It takes wisdom, hard work, and determination to be a land owner in this country. Why should they not have a rightful say in how their land and money is used. Educate Yourself and Vote!!! Besides, it was said for the point of the blog and at least I avail myself to all sides of the story, no matter how repugnant!

Back when our forefather were making the laws, 51% of the citizens were not being paid to be a taker instead of a doer AS ARE 51% OF AMERICANS of today. Over 51% of our fellow citizens depend on the government and their fore the working ...landowners ...if you would for their care. The landowners of today are paying for the uber liberal taker of the welfare rolls. It is the landowner that is providing for their very lively hood so, just as the forefathers were lording over their slaves by providing for their housing, healthcare, and meals, so to are the land owners of today and dear MR B. Please try to remember the slaves and indentured slaves did not have a say in the voting process then. I use your very logic to turnover your very point. MAY I POUR YOU A GLASS OF LEMONADE, SIR?

Cynthia,

Hitler rose to power on the backs of fascists like you.

You've turned over nothing. I see no logic or methodology in your rantings.

George Santyana wrote that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." I suggest you study him. Additionally, why don't you read the biography of Roger Williams: Roger Williams and The Creation of the American Soul.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/books/review/roger-williams-and-the-creation-of-the-american-soul-church-state-and-the-birth-of-liberty-by-john-m-barry-book-review.html?pagewanted=all

Your ignorant scribblings are an insult to the forefathers you pay homage to.

Cynthia:

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.
I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
While all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me.
When the sun came shining, and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice was chanting, As the fog was lifting,
This land was made for you and me.
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me."

Just visiting from the Athens Patch for a short minute ~ only takes about 180 seconds on the Dacula Patch to see what it's all about. Paragraph after paragraph on "pageants" in comments supposedly relating to an article about voting. Mindless females like this belong in the Ladies for Sarah Palin Book Club. Laura Bush, Sarah Palin, Callista Gingrich, and Cynthia Montgomery - all snug in their filthy bed of "Christian" elitist greed and selfishness. Hey Cynthia - since those who might have divorced due to being cheated on, left, abused, neglected, or whose children have been neglected are too "busy to vote" maybe you should busy your pretty little head with your plastic surgery appointments and dress up little girls like whores pageants [lady auctions]? I mean, we wouldn't want you to spend any of your beauty sleep hours threatening your marriage with divorce - since your worth is so tied up with your beauty - any sagging wrinkles caused by lack of sleep might threaten your husband's desire for you. You make me physically ill.

Oh, and make sure you put your anorexic diets on hold, plastic surgery appointments on hold, important pageant organizing on hold, manipedi apppointments on hold, and run your bleach blonde little self over to the army service sign up so you can log in your 2 years. With all the Christian service being done to civilians in Afghanistan, we wouldn't want you to miss out on an experience that would be so valuable to your service to pageant girls!

With a degree in Journalism from UGA, you would think that you would have been taught to proofread.

Somebody please go by Athens Mama's house and hug her! She is having a very rotten, horrible, no good, ugly day!!! Or maybe she is just a liberal mean woman who can not accept that beauty is a gift just like brains, strength, compassion, and the ability to give of oneself! As for my typos- thanks for noticing.....Athens MAMA, I was a proof reader for a living, when I first graduated out of that wonderful school on Baxter Street! Now, I write what I feel and don;t (oops there goes that right pinky not wanting to reach further over to hit the right key-I leave that in so the Mitchers and Moaners will have something to feel good about) worry about a finger that does not land in the right place (PAY ME & I WILL!). Hope you can find something good to say next time! Sounds like a personal problem to me. Please come join us on Thursday night as we announce a wonderful past queen of ours, before she leaves for duty. Her Past pageant queens sisters will be her letter writing friends as she gives her service to our country. Athens Mama, what have your inspired or lead others to do lately, Mitch & Moan? Our girls will be registering voters, hosting a debate for our county commission race,and look and feeling great as they do it! It is a difference in mindset, values, and opinions. Hope today is a better day for you, seriously I do! Now, I am off to make a difference in my community and in the lives of those I love, join me will you?

Look at the picture tat accompanies this "article" and remember these words:

"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a Bible" and possibly hosting a beauty pageant.

Dear God,
Today is another great day. I'll be taking my daughter out for 3 hours of athletic training - where she will be building her inner confidence based on her talents and not just that ridiculously beautiful face with which she has graced me for the past 13 years. Please help the girls of Dacula to study extra, extra hard this year, so that they have a good chance of getting out of Dacula to see more of the world than representations of judgemental, greed driven women like Cynthia. Please bless her with experiences that will help her to understand the plight of the many who are unemployed and divorced. Please help me to be less sarcastic and hateful when responding to writing that suggests that the unemployed and the divorced not be allowed to vote. Please help us all to enjoy this glorious day.

Amen

To the uber liberals that just can't see past their very own mindset, I must ask you to return to the post and realize that I "MADE UP" social classes and some new groups to show how indignant people would become if their rights to vote were taken away. Above you see the liberals once again spewing their storng held beiefs instead of realizing that citizens on both sides of the flag want more from their fellow party members. Rather wrapped in a flag and carrying a Bible than hosed with sanitizer and burned in an oven,CR. For some reason the word BEAUTY seems to tick of the left, hhhmmm now why could that be. Clark, Athens Mama, and Mr. B could you help me out on that. If you are not out busy improving your communnity tomorrow night, come by & see how some of us spend our time away from our 60 hour a week paying jobs. It is Thrusday Night TV but come on, click that remote to a better way of life & join us! YOU really are welcomed to join us. Again try to remember the "classes" mentioned above was just for the point of the piece. It is amazing how liberals will just grab any old sound bite & run with it without ever digesting the full meaning of the piece. And that, my fellow Americans, is why we are still in a free fall in the country. """""I KNOW,,,, "IT'S NOT HIS FAULT!" At least he has given BUSH a break. Now he claims his lack of leadership is GREECE & SPAIN'S FAULT!" Don't make me laugh! The day he is kicked out of office, he will still be blaming others!

My observation of this thread tells me that a lot of people here are judgemental. No one should be throwing any stones.

I did not take the list you coordinated in your article to be serious until:

"As for divorced people, they have been through enough why make them have to worry about such an important issue until they get their lives back in order."

I also read in your last comment some intimation that liberal women are lacking in beauty, so that relates to their disgust when you highlight beauty as women's greatest attribute. I know a lot of gorgeous liberal women ~ but the great thing about being focused on more mental, academic, and philanthropic talents and efforts is that all women don't have to freak out as they age and their looks change, or if they aren't judged "beautiful" by society's standards. The great thing about the emphasis on my daughter's efforts of kindness, intellectual ability, athletic ability, and diversification of skills is that I can do that whether she grows up to look like Bar Rafeali or someone less asthetically appealing. And I can love her equally, without secretly feeling sorry for her, because the emphasis is not on that which is only skin deep and will fade with time. When I mentor young women, I emphasize activities that will expand their repertoire of experiences, open their minds, improve their athletic abilities, add to their souls' ability to parent, emphasized the growth of their minds and hearts. If they are beautiful on the outside, that is just the icing on the cake.

I was wrong for using the "w" word to describe beauty pageants. I was involved in a couple as a child and have nothing but positive memories. I suppose I was thinking of Jon Benet Ramsey and "Toddlers and Tiaras." I was also wrong for using the words "greed driven" to describe the author. I got carried away in my response.

Beauty is only skin deep. Willful ignorance goes all the way to the bone.

I'm trying to decipher all the comments here. So, Athens Mama chose the wrong man to marry and now it seems to be Cynthia's fault? I assume Cynthia stole her husband. Bad Cynthia!!

But I can't figure out Clark's problem at all. He just seems to hate America, the Bible, and beauty pageants.

HOLD UP THERE DAVID! I've been married to the same man for 33 years &he is more than enough for me! I have never stepped out with another man---well maybe like Carter, I have lusted over Magnum PI & Blue Bloods a bit to much but there again, he is easy on the eyes! MY BAD! I don't need Athens Mamma man. I too agree with Athens Mamma that T&T is worry. It is ,however, a successful show because of the recipe they have; 1 child that rules the house, 1 mother that is living through her daughter, & 1 nice mother & daughter. I like to watch it for entertainment value & to see girls I know. I do not believe that football players wear pads, helmets, and go about their week running over people with black make up on their eyes anymore than I know pageant girls do not wear ball gowns, full make -up, & Tiara on their heads M-F. I have never even seen a ballerina in the mall with cat eyes, too-toos or feathers in their hair. I say this to shine the light that pageants is just like any other activity you may choose to put your child in. I have seen grown men throw fits & knock over table when they don't win a football game, worse I have seen parent come out of the stands & hit the umpires. I can attest that I HAVE NEVER HAD ANY INCIDENT WITH A PARENT & child OTHER THAN A PLEASANT CONSERVATION ABOUT HOW THEY CAN IMPROVE. IF you had a bad experience, don't go back to that system, but I don't consider loosing a bad experience. Loosing breeds character!

I give all divorced people, MEN & WOMEN a break, a pass if you will. I have seen too many families being torn apart by divorce. It is heart breaking to be on the other end of the phone & know the tears are flowing & the empty sounds are because there is nothing left but a silent groan of pain & remorse for what is now over. Their loss is overwhelming. But, I wrote in the above article that if we want voting to be taken seriously, we must bring back its value to the public.One way to add value to anything is by removing it. Don't believe me..take away hubby remote or your wives purse or your children's cell phone. Now moving on to the divorce comment. @"If you are divorced--you should not have the right to vote for three years." As for divorced people, they have been through enough, why make them have to worry about such an important issue until they get their lives back in order. But for some getting a divorce might free up their minds to take on a new adventure-like VOTING! FEW WIN DURING DIVORCES. But sometimes it is necessary. I get that . As you can see from my words, I was giving the divorced a bit of rest before they had to get back into the struggles of politics. It would be nice to not have to deal with politics for a while & just let the country run itself. Now on to looks. Whether we like it or not, we have two eyes. We look at each other. Men & women seek a look in their mate. God is good because beauty is still in the eye of the beholder. I see beauty in all.

It is unfortunate that people cannot exchange opinions without sinking to trying to discredit each other's character....