As the leaders and decision-makers of this great state, it is our responsibility to strive for perfection.

We made a good start toward preserving recreational areas like the Chattahoochee River.

By creating a Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, we will give local governments a framework for working together on an issue that affects our whole state.

There is no country on earth with a stronger tradition of protecting the public's right to know.

I want business to prosper and make a profit caused by business expansion and prosperity.

The time has come to end social promotion in our schools.

I am committed to making Georgia a model for open and honest government.

After all, I have spent the better part of my adult life insisting that government be open... that government be accessible... and that government be held accountable to people who voted us into office.

As the leaders and decision-makers of this great state, it is our responsibility to strive for perfection.

Business and the state have a common interest; not an adversarial interest.

No one in government should ever think that the citizens they work for can't or won't scrutinize their actions.

So today I say, the outlook in Georgia has never been brighter.

We will never forget those like my great-grandfather who fought at Vicksburg.

And one of the things I've tried to do in my first months in office is to give more Georgians - reporters and members of the general public alike - a closer look at how their government works.

We live in a state with a wonderful climate and plenty of natural beauty, from the shores of Cumberland Island to the Chattahoochee River to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

As the population of Georgia increased dramatically, so did development.

And this week, I am proposing legislation to strengthen our Open Records laws to make public access to our public records surer, faster, and more comprehensive.

Georgia is in an enviable position today, but we can't rest on our laurels.

But the fact is, no matter how good the teacher, how small the class, how focused on quality education the school may be none of this matters if we ignore the individual needs of our students.

Repeating a grade needs to be the last resort, not an automatic response to a child who is struggling to learn.

Enhancing revenues will help us improve education and solve our infrastructure problems.

Traffic is only one of the side effects of growth.

Neither political party is clean when it comes to tactics that divide our people.

One thing I learned a long time ago as a prosecutor is that it's tough to get people to obey a law if there is not penalty for breaking it.

What I am proposing this year are not lofty concepts far removed form the daily struggle so of ordinary Georgians. They are proposals that directly effect the lives of the people we serve.

The First Amendment rejects red tape, cover-up and double-speak.

In my first year as governor, we solved some of the problems that had begun to undermine the Open Records Act. We gave the act teeth by providing criminal penalties for knowing violations.

We are all one - or at least we should be - and it is our job, our duty, and our great challenge to fight the voices of division and seek the salve of reconciliation.

We changed the names of our technical schools to colleges, we expanded the eligibility for HOPE scholarships for technical training, and we added some formula funding.

The First Amendment rejects red tape cover up and double speak.

Georgia is in an enviable position today but we cant rest on our laurels.

A quiet worker but a very productive one and a great one for the state of Georgia.

As the population of Georgia increased dramatically so did development.

There is no executive order; there is no law that can require the American people to form a national community. This we must do as individuals and if we do it as individuals, there is no President of the United States who can veto that decision.

Get me inside any boardroom and I'll get any decision I want.

Boldness and decision command, often even in evil, the respect and concurrence of mankind.

The two important things I did learn were that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be, and that the most difficult part of any endeavor is taking the first step, making the first decision.

In the coming days, I know there will be some reflecting on my time as mayor. Many of you will search to find what's behind my decision. It's simple. I have always believed that every person, especially public officials, must understand when it is time to move on. For me, that time is now.

For me, romance isn't an over-the-top act. It's someone offering to help and to support me. Or if that person thinks I'm making the wrong decision, he'll tell me. I want him to be honest, because being that honest takes a lot of guts.

Networks decide who will have a chance to do shows, but it is the viewers who make the final decision of who stays and who goes. I am very fortunate, in that the television viewers of our country have decided that Bob Barker can stay.

Using the power of decision gives you the capacity to get past any excuse to change any and every part of your life in an instant.

Presidents quickly realize that while a single act might destroy the world they live in, no one single decision can make life suddenly better or can turn history around for the good.

The promise of equal educational opportunity envisioned by the Brown decision remains unfulfilled.

With respect to the FBI, they had problems communicating in a vertical way, within the FBI itself, so that information of importance could get pushed up to those who were decision-makers.

You can see my decision as either a distinctive factor or as a limitation. I don't feel it is a limitation.

The decision to go to war is the most important decision that I can make as a representative in Congress. As a veteran, I see any potential military action first through the eyes of the young men and women who volunteered to wear the uniform and would carry out such a mission.

She made the decision that her existence had lost its meaning. And you cannot judge that.

The decision to open up Bahrain to embrace all people indiscriminately was fostered in me ever since I was a child.

I made the decision to come back to New York, quit my job and move to Paris.