It's late August and time to pack for vacation. What's a mom to do? Toss a few pairs of shorts in the suitcase. On second thought, why not wear hiking shorts to be ready upon arrival at destination. A few hours later finds our mom striding down the stairs of Air Force One at the Grand Canyon.

GASP. The First Lady has...legs.

Last week, the first family took a tour of the Grand Canyon. The temperature reached a million degrees. The First Lady wore shorts.  What was she thinking?

Probably that she was going to see the largest multicolored-rock hole in the contiguous United states with her husband and school age daughters. And that it was going to be blistering hot.

While her husband is rightly scrutinized about decisions on public policy, Michelle Obama was held under a m icroscope about clothes she wore on a family holiday. Earlier, she faced a barrage of criticism for going sleeveless. She obvious got that message for though bare-legged; she wore a very camping-chic, plaid shirt cuffed at her buff biceps.

In light of all the brouhaha, most thought the “mom-short” First Lady image only added to Michelle Obama's authenticity. But the debate raged as to whether she looked appropriate. Is “shortsgate” a thinly veiled reaction against her husband's politics? I wish that were true.

This is more about the fact that Michelle Obama is...GASP... a woman. And society picks apart  a woman's appearance like 5 year-old boys dissect a grasshopper on the primary school playground. Men are tough on women. Women are tough on women. Grasshoppers probably are tough on women.

By: Sarah Burbach; Assistant Superintendent

Art Education in our Morgan County schools is more than just drawing pictures and learning about famous artists! During the 2008-2009 school year, the Georgia Department of Education gathered a network of significant people from the “art world” to draft the Georgia Performance Standards for Visual Arts Education. Our own Bess Carter, Laura Rice, and Marjean Meadow were invited to serve on this committee and played an active role in developing, writing, and reviewing the new standards for every visual arts program in Georgia schools.

Meadow, art teacher at Morgan County Middle School, recognizes the value of the visual arts program in the public schools and its importance to developing creative thinking and innovative design for students needing to acquire 21st century job skills. She believes that creativity, innovation, and critical thinking are a big part of what art education teaches naturally. While many job skills are being outsourced to other countries, innovative design is still an area led by Americans and will be a necessary job skill for the future. Meadow pointed out that the MFA (Master of Fine Arts) degree is quickly replacing the MBA of yesterday as the business sector looks to hire innovative thinkers. The areas of fine arts are becoming increasingly more important to educators as they strive to develop these skills in today’s students…our future work force.

Our Congressman Paul Broun wants to get rid of Medicare as we know it. I’m not kidding. I’m not exaggerating, and I’m not trying to scare anyone. This is one of the bullet points of his own “health care” bill which was read to a group of seven Democrats and Independents by his very gracious aides in his Athens office last week. Three of us Morgan Countians attended and were joined by four from Oconee County.
Nothing Broun says surprises me anymore, but his words at a Clarkesville town meeting last Tuesday were just as inciting and untrue as those who are halting the debate at town hall meetings of Democrats across the country. Broun’s efforts at speechifying to his constituents were at the same time shameful and pitifully comical.          
Go online to www.onlineathens.com and search for “rotten fish.”
    That’s one of the phrases he used to describe health care reform as proposed by Democrats.
    Immediately will pop up the newspaper article of his Clarkesville meeting. The scare tactics were rampant – watch out or they will declare martial law…old folks will be encouraged to just let go and die…etc.
Broun said he is not going to vote for the current House bill no matter what. So rather than working in a bipartisan manner to make this House bill better, he is championing his own ideas.
    His twisting of facts and his past actions will make it hard for his colleagues to take him seriously.

By: Fred Johnson: Columnist

Nancy Pelosi says that the people protesting Barack Obama’s healthcare plan are not grassroots people. She calls them Astroturf people (when she’s not calling them swastika-carrying, rightwing mobs). Sen. Barbara Boxer insists the protestors are too "well-dressed" to be true grassroots activists White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says this is all “manufactured anger” because the protestors – he calls them the "Brooks Brothers Brigade" –are too tastefully dressed to be “authentic” protestors.
    However, it has become apparent from videos and photographs of town hall meetings that it is the supporters of “Obama Care” who carry professionally made signs with identical messages while the “Brooks Brothers Brigade” carry homemade signs that oppose nationalized healthcare. So which side really has the paid supporters?
    The LA Times recently reported on a Web site with a large-type headline that announces: "Work to Pass Obama's Healthcare Plan and Get Paid to Do it! $10-15 hr!" They go on to say that it's a Web ad on Craigslist: "You can work for change. Join motivated staff around the country working to make change happen. You can make great friends and money along the way. Earn $400-$600 a week."

By: Dick Hodgetts: Columnist

The whole county revs up for back-to-school.  The Morgan County High Bulldogs are practicing intensely in the August heat for their first Friday night game.  The MCHS band can be found at the DuPree Track marching and developing new formations.  Lots of Moms have taken kids to Wal-Mart and Family Dollar store for back-to-school supplies. The photos of those kindergarten and first graders off to their first day simply pull at your heart strings.  And, if your house is like mine when I attended school, back-to-school requires a visit to the eye doctor, and the dentist.  But, this year is a bit different.  It’s not just the kids getting ready, but horses too.
 Yes, Morgan County High will have its first equestrian team.  The team Coach is Kat DeMas Mulkey-who Coached the Equestrian club team at UGA, and her associate: Coach Kimberly Hezzelwood, who was Manager of her college equestrian team which won back to back national championships. The local team is located at Four Seasons Farm out 441 North on Plantation Road.  If you have not visited Plantation Road in the last decade, you have missed part of the horse industry that is growing in Morgan County.  Four Seasons Farm is a hunter/jumper farm, Rythmn & Balance across the road is an impressive indoor Dressage facility, Charles Young does trail riding all over the USA, The Stables at Apalachee offers quality boarding services, and the multi-talented Sally Buffington at Stone Creek specializes in Eventing.  The newest farm is 14 Hands where Parham has high hopes of competing at a national level.  And now we have an equestrian team for our high school with all these skills and experience readily available.