I am encouraged to see the people of Fayette County speaking up on a number of issues, voicing their dismay of shady projects like the big box center on Ga. Highway 54 West and the developer-friendly West Fayetteville Bypass, protesting the faulty fiscal judgment of the local City Council and the Board of Education.

To serve and to protect is the acknowledged mission of all the police departments who display it on their police cars. Frankly, it should be the mission of all the branches of government, including the judicial branch. Sadly for us in Georgia, consumer protection is a priority for neither our legislators nor, it seems, our judges.

This past week, the Georgia General Assembly convened its fifth week of session. Last year, I wrote a great deal about my concern over the way the Georgia Department of Transportation conducts its business. I strongly believe that the DOT, as much as any agency of state government, needs to be reformed in a way that ensures Georgia’s taxpayer dollars are being spent efficiently.

Mandatory to my mama’s generation was the ownership of a deep freezer and a sewing machine. These, remember, were people who believed in self-reliance and independence. You grew what you ate, you froze or canned it and you sewed what you wore.

Answers to your questions about life, religion and the Bible

Pastors get some of the most interesting questions from people they meet and people in their congregations. Here are a few that I have received during my years of ministry and via email for this column.

“Bush Boom Continues” trilled the headline over the Lawrence Kudlow column, as George W. Bush closed out his seventh year in office.

The Associated Press reported recently that Clifford Cornell has returned from Canada. Cornell, a soldier in the United States Army, fled to Canada in 2005 as his unit was preparing to deploy to Iraq. It is likely that Cornell would still be in Canada except for the fact that Canada was apparently about to deport him. Cornell faces possible charges of “desertion” and imprisonment for his actions.

It’s rare to criticize a politician for being all action and no talk, but that’s one of the big things that’s wrong with Obama’s battle against the economic crisis.

Just for beans, I Googled “free enterprise,” then clicked on “news.” Results: 11,303. Tried the same thing with “private business.” This time: 131,097. Ah, but “news” with “federal government” as the search item: 272,332.

Misplaced, missing, or just lost — they all meant the same thing that fateful night back at 110 Flamingo Street. It was the worst whooping I ever got from my dad.

From television specials to newspaper editorials, the media are pushing the idea that current economic problems were caused by the market and that only the government can rescue us.

The idea that even the brightest person or group of bright people, much less the U.S. Congress, can wisely manage an economy has to be the height of arrogance and conceit.

Wouldn’t you think that between the big announcement – “You’re going to be a grandpa!” – and the actual event, someone would have clued in the most critical information a grandpa needs to know.

“Just victims of the in-house drive-by. They say jump, you say how high?” Aside from some of their seemingly anarchist lyrics, of which I don’t approve, that line from “Rage Against the Machine” is as close as any I can find to fit the current day and generations-long condition of the American experience existing between “We the people” and the Congressional/Administrative branches and the “financial element” whose will politicians dutifully obey (c.f., Lincoln, Roosevelt, Jefferson, Jackson, Garfield and Wilson).

Attention, all taxpaying passengers: Make sure your seatbelts are fastened, and, oh, your seat cushions can be used as a floatation device. The captain has informed me that we are heading into some turbulent, irrational behavior.

Should the opportunity ever arise for you to deal with a bona fide race car driver on anything having to do with driving a car, you might benefit from lessons I’ve learned. Let me share them.

Week 4 report: The General Assembly gaveled in last week on Feb. 10 for the 16th legislative day of the 2009 session. The legislature was in session Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; however, numerous committee hearings were held Monday and Friday.

The Wall Street Journal online reported, as of Feb. 9, a total of 34 banks have failed or been taken over by federal regulators since early 2008. The credit turmoil and other factors contributed to “banks going bust.”

These are difficult times for many people. A few weeks ago, I was in a meeting with a number of pastors when the question was asked, “Is anyone finding that the offerings in church are down?” Every hand went up. People, businesses and organizations are finding that this is a time of adjustment.

President Obama is back in messianic campaign mode. It is unbecoming. When he’s not snarling at conservative opponents of his endless spending programs, he’s pandering to supporters as the nation’s community organizer-in-chief.

Paraskevidekatriaphobics – it’s a big word that describes the people who have an irrational fear of Friday the 13th, a day considered throughout history to be the unluckiest day of the year.

Barack Obama has a tough act to pull off. He must simultaneously petrify people and also restore their confidence. He must scare us to death and calm our fears.

Letters from parents often complain of a sense of futility in trying to argue with their own children, who have been fed a steady diet of the politically correct vision of the world, from elementary school to the university.

The Peachtree City Council voted its customary split last Thursday in favor of further destroying the declining peace and tranquility of our “planned” community.

Peachtree City Mayor Logsdon and council members Boone and Plunkett actually voted for the city submitting the foolish traffic signal at Ga. Highway 54 and Line Creek Drive.

This past week was the third full week the General Assembly was in session, and Friday marked the 15th legislative day out of a Constitutional maximum of 40.

It all started at the beauty shop. Most of women’s troubles that don’t begin with men begin at the beauty shop. But then you knew that.

In some cases, wool-gathering at the wheel may be as dangerous as driving under the influence. Dangerous in more ways than one. Having neither dictionary nor tape recorder in the car, I sometimes have to pound thoughts in through my forehead, saying, “Remember this, remember!”

The parking deck at Emory University Hospital can be pretty confusing because there are so many sections to it. Still, I’m familiar enough with it that I’ve never had much trouble.

“There is no disagreement,” said then-President-elect Barack Obama Jan. 9, “that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help to jump-start the economy.”