Ben Nelms's blog

The real risk of an avian flu pandemic

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:30:49 -0400

A group of public health and emergency services officials in Fayette and Coweta counties met last week, along with their counterparts in the other counties in Georgia Public Health District 4, to discuss a response to a potential pandemic of avian flu. While not generally on the public radar, the planning by those responsible for addressing such a crisis head-on cannot be underestimated. Here’s why.

Quietly, North American Community slips in

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:10:26 -0400

You have all heard of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. How many have heard of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP)?

Cell phone dangers, especially for kids — just whom do you believe?

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:37:23 -0400

University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Director Ronald Herberman set off a flurry of excitement last week when he released a memo to the center’s 3,000 employees advising caution over cell phone use.

Corporate environmentalists killing cause

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:24:34 -0400

Oil over $140 a barrel, with OPEC announcing that it could go to $200 within a couple of years (did they mean months?).

What politics are behind DFCS meddling?

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:57:03 -0400

Fayette County Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS) Director Mary Davis met her political match last week when she was “reassigned” out of Fayette and into another area of the agency.

Economic slavery: So what is the answer?

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:19:49 -0400

This column is a continuation from the one I began last week. It’s meant to address the belief that this nation is in a condition of economic slavery and why apathy is not the answer to that condition.

Economic slavery: Apathy is not the answer

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:29:23 -0400

Local politics is relevant and important. But, sooner rather than later, national and international issues quickly find their way to your front door.

The politics of accountability – Part 2

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:33:17 -0400

I don’t normally continue a column from one week to the next. But last week’s column on government accountability and transparency and the need to televise or otherwise have a video recording of public meetings with playback capability deserves a bit more elaboration.

Let’s see a higher level of official accountability

Tue, 27 May 2008 17:21:54 -0400

I make a it habit to sit on the front row at every public meeting I attend if a seat is available. The reason for this is simple, at least for me.

We have an energy problem; here’s a solution

Tue, 20 May 2008 17:14:36 -0400

We have a problem. The problem is local, national and global. Here in America, as elsewhere, we are being held hostage to forces out of our control, forces committed to having us reduced to economic slavery over the control of energy that sits outside the reach of our current thinking.

‘Official information’: Your kids deserve the truth

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:12:51 -0400

The results of legal questions on two separate issues directly affecting the physical health of countless Americans were reported late last week.

PTC, treated sewer water is not your friend

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:35:29 -0500

Peachtree City is truly a fine city. It is one that continues to be heralded as one of the most desirable in the United States in which to live and raise a family.

I believe in you!

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:23:53 -0500

It is with great difficulty that I must let the readers of the South Fulton Citizen know that this edition will be the last one our company produces.

Beware the politics of deceit

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:29:18 -0400

‘Tis the season. It seems it’s the best of times and the worst of time every couple of years leading up to the time when residents are called on to go to the polls and cast their votes in local elections. Residents casting their votes ensures the continuation of the representative democracy that forms the method of governance adopted by this nation more than 200 years ago. Unfortunately, the majority of citizens rarely ever bother casting a vote. For their part, and being largely forthright and honest, most candidates vying for votes usually get their names, faces and messages to voters through a variety of conventional methods.

The things we don’t know

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:32:36 -0400

There is a type of research beginning to emerge that may, in years to come, trigger a real debate in science and, hopefully, a re-writing of state and federal environmental regulations on a scale that would make what happened with the decades-long research into tobacco look like child’s play.