Category Archives: Radio Commentaries

February 21, 2014 Radio Commentary

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Smart Meters and You

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, February 21, 2014 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim.  Last month, the Public Service Commission voted 5 to 0 to approve an opt-out of smart meters for Georgia Power customers who prefer analog meters.

In case you don’t know, smart meters are not simple up-graded analog meters.  They are two-way radio frequency communication devices that emit radiation, 24/7 and measure, store and report electric use remotely, 24/7.  The more often they’re read, the more radio frequency radiation is emitted.  If they’re read every 15 minutes, an electric pulse radiates through your home, business or wherever it’s installed 96 times in a 24-hour period, 24/7.

Georgia utility companies began installing smart meters in 2008 with “no clear authority” from the Public Service Commission and without consumer consent.  Every time consumer consent was by-passed, Georgia Power violated the U.S. Energy Act of 2005 requiring electric utilities to “provide each customer requesting a time-based rate with a time-based meter ….”  I have never met anyone who requested time-based billing, but smart meters were installed, anyway.  Continue reading →

February 14, 2014 Radio Commentary

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Dangerous: A Compact Commission

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, February 14, 2014 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. On February 4th, the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony on H.B. 794 that sets up a Compact Commission to encourage 34 states to apply for an Article V constitutional convention to pass a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The committee had been well-oiled to pass H.B. 794 and did so after hearing testimony FOR its passage and, then from ME, the only person speaking against it in the hearing. After a voice vote, a member of the committee asked for a hand-vote, which the chairman refused, saying the representative would have to over-rule the chair to get another vote. The representative over-ruled the chair and the chair held another voice vote. He would NOT have a hand-vote.

When it was my turn to speak, I explained that I had an opposing view that I would read from the bill’s interpretation by John Eidsmoe, Professor of Constitutional Law at Thomas Goode Jones School of Law at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama. These are some of the Professor’s comments I shared with the House Judiciary Committee: Continue reading →

January 31, 2014 Radio Commentary

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“Every Lick is Like Taking a Hit!”

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, January 31, 2014 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. For your information: A U.S. flag flown over the U.S. Capitol on July 4, 2013 was made of hemp, which is an Asiatic herb (cannabis sativa) with tough fibrous stems used in rope-making, sailcloth, etc. Its leaves and flowers are used to make substances such as marijuana and hashish.

Here in Georgia it took years to stop the sale of marijuana-flavored candy in neighborhood stores. The first bill to stop it was designed to protect children from drug use later in life. It was introduced in 2006, but it died.

Representative Judy Manning had death threats after introducing her bill that passed the House in 2007 and the Senate passed it in 2008. But it lay dormant in the Senate until after a group of Cobb County students in white t-shirts with red slogans lobbied at the Capitol on April Fools’ Day, 2008. The students wanted the bill passed to protect their neighborhood, where any child with $4.00 could buy a “pot sucker” or other marijuana-flavored candy. Continue reading →

January 24, 2014 Radio Commentary

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Utah’s Battle Against Same-Sex Marriage

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, January 24, 2014 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. Since April 2, 1996, marriage in Georgia has been defined as the union of man and woman; Georgia does not recognize same-sex marriage performed elsewhere, and prohibits the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses. Language identical to that law was added to the State Constitution in a referendum voters passed in 2004.

So far, Georgia’s law and constitutional amendment are intact, but Utah’s amendment defining marriage, passed by 66 percent of voters in 2004, is being challenged. The Utah amendment states that no other domestic union would be recognized as marriage and would not have the same or equivalent legal effect.

Despite overwhelming public approval, Utah’s U.S. District Court struck down the amendment on December 20, 2013 but on January 6th the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay on same-sex marriages until after an Appeals Court ruling. Continue reading →