Sometimes some good points get lost in the comments. Over on Peach Pundit, they are mostly throwing their hands up in the air wondering what exactly Sonny could have done wrong. Hey, every Governor gets rich without trying, seems to be the consensus opinion.
Well, some comments deserve to be highlighted. One is from a fellow named Fishtail. I have no idea who Fishtail is, but I pass on his comment because he seems to have a pretty good grasp of the issue:
First of all, I am a politically independent real estate developer. A Republican friend emailed me the link to this website. I have logged on to give you my strong opinion about the Sonny Perdue/Stan Thomas real estate transaction. After reviewing the facts, I can only conclude that Sonny Perdue is an opportunistic thief and he hopes the dumbasses who elected him Governor will never figure out what he is up to. That especially goes for most of the Hitler Youth that blog here. Stan Thomas is a highly successful developer who literally coins money. He has never made a deal where he did not feel he had an “unfair advantage”. Do yourself a favor and check his holdings out at www.thomasent.com and you will actually know some facts about this guy. As far as John Konop’s questions regarding what Sonny did in return, in 2005 Stan Thomas announced a $250 million development IN GEORGIA ON HWY 400 AT OLD MILTON . This land was worth only $10 million before Stan got the State’s approval, called a DRI. This development could NEVER HAVE BEEN APPROVED without the blessings of the GA REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY and GA DOT. That is where the rat is on this deal. If these two guys are as “Christian” as they publically brag, then they should confess their sins.
I am encountering a lot of the mentality that says "well everyone does this" and Sonny is rich afterall. But while the rich are often let in on other investments by the other wealthy, they are usually not the governor who can in turn appoint the person that helped them out to a powerful board, take them to Korea with them to negotiate massive deals with the state, and even oversee state boards and authorities that can make decisions one way or the other, which if made the correct way can yield their wealthy friend hundreds of millions of dollars.
I am always amused by the antics of people who try to use a random occurence to make a broader point about something. Global Warming is a great point. Today the Drudge Report linked to a story about the hottest days on record. Here's the link, which tells you that the highest ever recorded temperature was in 1922, and for the USA it was 1913. I guess that's an interesting piece of trivia to know, but it tells you nothing about an overall trend.
For example, it is well documented that humans continue to get taller with every new generation. In America, over the last 40 years the average person is 1 inch taller. However, the tallest man ever died way back in 1940 and the current tallest man is a full 7 inches shorter than the record holder.
So, are we to believe that people are getting shorter because the tallest man alive right now isn't as tall as the tallest man alive in the 1940's? No, and when it comes to global warming and climate change, just because the hottest day ever recorded was in 1922 does not mean that we are currently in a period of years where the average yearly temperature has broken records almost every year.
We are experiencing climate change, and you can either accept that and figure out what you can do to make a difference, or you can treat it like any other political game and try to score cheap points.