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

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.

Criticism of government finds sanctuary in several portions of the 1st Amendment. It is part of the right of free speech. It embraces freedom of the press.

For a country to have a great writer is like having another government. That's why no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.

This is how psychiatry has functioned-as a kind of property arm of the government, who can put you away if your husband doesn't like you.

I don't like government, it's just that simple.

And while the U.S. can never be 100 percent safe from a future strike, our government is working around the clock on measures to protect the American people.

It was also during my tenure of office that the Japanese Government agreed to the conclusion of a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and signed it, pursuing a policy in harmony with the avowed desire of the people.

You know why there's a Second Amendment? In case the government fails to follow the first one.

It was an idea we had when Al was in the Senate - to organize and moderate an annual conference that would look at government policy through the lens of the family to help identify ways that the family can be supported and strengthened.

What the F.D.I.C. does is to put the full faith and credit of the United States government behind every savings account in the nation, up to a limit that has changed over the years and stands now at $100,000.

All that a good government aims at... is to add no unnecessary and artificial aid to the force of its own unavoidable consequences, and to abstain from fortifying and accumulating social inequality as a means of increasing political inequalities.

Neither these statesmen nor their constituents sought in any way to use the Government for the interest of themselves or their section, or for the injury of a single member of the Confederacy.

The government must do all it can to help reduce interest rates for business.

The time has come for the American government to recognize the damage that has occurred to our economy, and to take firm action to curtail what I believe is both unfair and illegal foreign competition.

All of us who are convinced that our military needs all the support the government and public will provide are pleased that he will have his chance to do just that.

War is just one more big government program.

The transfer is a monumental occasion as the Iraqi people take control of their government and their future and forge ahead with creating a society governed by the tenets of life, liberty and freedom.