Maybe I’m a dinosaur. Not because I turned 60 in August, but because I believe in our system of capitalism and I have not forgotten the utter failure of socialism and communism wherever it has been tried.

If you have a weak stomach or get offended easily, please don’t read any further.

A premature baby lies alone on a table in a hospital utility room, dying. His heart is beating, his lungs are supplying the air he needs to breathe. Autonomic and central nervous systems are functioning. His arms and legs are moving in the air that is so different from the warm, liquid world of amniotic fluid that has until moments ago defined his world for the past 23 weeks.

In most cases, government runs astray until we run headlong into a crisis.

When the federal government failed to shepherd the market because of special interest enticements and a lack of aggressive enforcement of regulations, the crisis forces a revision of oversight controls and restores order at taxpayer expense.

There is an art to making fried green tomatoes. Unfortunately, too many restaurant cooks are artless. They think they can when they can’t.

Except for the dog bite and the Friday night rainstorm, it was the loveliest lakeside camping weekend we’ve ever had in the half-dozen or so years we’ve been doing this. We started with just a couple of families, then twice a year, in April and October, the prettiest times in southern Georgia.

My mom grew up on the farm in Upson County with farm chores galore: fields to work, animals to feed, eggs to gather. They worked hard, but when Sunday came, they ceased work. Sunday was a day of worship and rest. Of course, chickens were fed and cows were milked, but Sunday was God’s day.

Every year around this time I write about my favorite horror movies and each year the list is basically the same. I always recommend “Halloween,” the original, not Rob Zombie’s dreadful and unnecessary remake, and I think Peter Jackson’s “Dead Alive” is a lot of fun - if you don’t mind being completely assaulted by massive amounts of goo and gore - but I want to talk about what horror movies you should avoid.

I messed up last week when I said that was the next to last column. Actually, this one is. I also promised you an explanation. I have already received a couple of concerned but kind-hearted phone calls and several emails and I will be happy to explain why we are discontinuing the columns.

A local 16-year-old owes his life to a Fayetteville, Ga., police officer. According to published newspaper reports, on Aug. 30, Officer Todd Chitwood encountered two College Park young men who were apparently acting suspicious.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and with one look at our bank account and stock portfolio statements, it seems like yours truly and company are sure enough at the bottom of this economic downturn.

Telling a friend that the love of his life is a phony and dangerous is not likely to get him to change his mind. But it may cost you a friend.

People who put faith in government to solve national or even individual problems are headed for deep disappointment, if it hasn’t already arrived. Still, that doesn’t stop politicians from attempting to sell political snake oil to the gullible. No one ever lost money betting on the ignorance of the uninformed masses.

One of the campaign themes this election cycle is “affordable” health care. Shouldn’t we ask ourselves whether we want the politicians who brought us the “affordable” housing, that created the current financial debacle, to now deliver us affordable health care? Shouldn’t we also ask how things turned out in countries where there is socialized medicine?

Whenever a governmental entity is given large amounts of cash through bonds, SPLOST or any other means, it is vitally important that public scrutiny be encouraged as a method of insuring financial accountability. Financial accountability and sound decision-making have been deficient at times at the Fayette County Board of Education.

Here’s what I believe might be a smart way to decide whether to vote for or against increasing the sales tax to 7 percent to help out the Fayette County School System.

Not too long ago, I met a nice guy, a renewing of an old friendship actually, and I tried to fall in love with him. I tried, but I couldn’t.

Until recently, I found autumn to be the most depressing time of the year, colorful leaves and wildflowers notwithstanding.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. The website, www.domesticviolence.org. offers this definition: “Domestic violence and emotional abuse are behaviors used by one person in a relationship to control the other.”

I was delighted to hear from an old high school classmate this week. Neal Cobb of Rabun Gap who attended Russell High with me back in the 1950s, is looking for his Crawford family who lived in the Line Creek area back in the 1800s.

There are key issues that, for me, stand in importance above all others. Certainly, especially in the last several weeks, the economy is an issue. How and when peace will be brought to Iraq and Afghanistan are important issues. Energy dependence on foreign sources, how immigrants are to be treated, relations with Russia and other nations are issues to be considered. The security of the nation ranks near the top of the issues. But, for me, there is an issue that I simply cannot ignore.

It was once said by someone much smarter than me, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make any noise?”

By state Sen. Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg)

The current economic situation has energized a renewed focus on the fundamental role of government in the daily lives of its citizens. Government should be able to demonstrate to taxpayers that their tax dollars are justified and that they are spent wisely and effectively.

One of the oldest phenomena of American elections — criticism of one’s opponent — has in recent times been stigmatized by much of the media as “negative advertising.”

The Federalist Papers, written by James Madison, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton, is the document most frequently referred to when trying to get a feel for the original intent of the framers of the Constitution.

By now, almost everybody knows “Joe the plumber.” Mentioned about 15 times in Wednesday’s presidential debate, Joe Wurzelbacher, a plumber from Toledo, questioned Barack Obama at an Ohio campaign stop earlier in the week. Joe wanted to know if Obama’s tax plan would raise his taxes.

They laid him to rest in the earth he loved so well, the earth he tilled and planted, the earth in which his ancestors lie, the quiet earth beside the church he loved.

Judging by the smaller crowds I’ve seen in local restaurants lately, it’s safe to say my family is not the only one feeling the financial pinch here in Fayette County.

I am a proud member of the Georgia Association of Realtors (GAR). Members are bound by the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice set forth by the National Association of Realtors. We are required to take an ethics course and pass a written test on the code every four years. This requirement protects the public and helps maintain the collective integrity of Realtors.

“I’m proud to pay taxes in America; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money."

— Arthur Godfrey, 1950s TV show host, 1903-83.

This is part one on identifying how the Fayette County Board of Education (FCBOE) bonds went wrong, key decisions went awry and those who are benefiting from it all.