Gonzo Lawmakers - Day 19

A daily recap of the Georgia Public Broadcasting show "Lawmakers". The show airs weekdays at 7:00pm with a replay at 5:30am the following weekday.

* Back again to the three day week. I bet it will be stimulating - ho ho.

* Susannah Capelouto is going to be on! She called me an entertainer once.

* Top story - can you guess? The stimulus. First the bad news - the revenue projections are worse than we thought. Governor Perdue adjusted downwards almost another half-billion dollars. But don't worry! D.C. is going to save us all!

* We're back to the usual live shot. But I must say Valerie is looking quite snazzy today. Not the usual conservative suit.

* WHOA! Mystery hand in the shot! She didn't have her mic on and somebody reached up and quickly attached it to her snazzy lapel. I mean this is the first live shot of the program. What were they doing prior to the broadcast? It's like a football team calling a timeout before the first play because they only have 10 men on the field.

* Her audio's still not right and I now notice some doodad hanging off the right side of her face. I thought it was an earring but I bet it's a recently deceased mic.

* The stimulating allows the Governor to sign the Homeowners Tax Relief Grant which allows us to keep us homeowners to keep our pocketbooks closed for the moment.

* Perdue is also asking for an additional 1% cut from all agencies. I can't wait to see the audits to see what all is being cut. Democrat Robert Brown can't wait either. He wants a study to explore what services are already affected.

* The recently departed mic is now gone. A moment of silence seems appropriate. Kudos to Valerie Edwards for keeping cool in the chaos.

* House reconsiders HR1 which sends the constitutional cap on property tax to the Rules Committee

* Shout out to the young 'uns! The Young Democrats and Young Republicans have joined forces in support of passing alcohol sales on sunday. Imagine that.

* Sen. Dan Weber (R - Land of Earnest People) sponsored Senate Bill 58 that has something to do with the dispensantion of property by new cities (hint hint Dunwoody). I don't really understand it but I always like to mention my good Senator Dan.

* Another senate bill - this one by Democrat Gloria Butler. It requires marshals to notify victims when protective orders are served. Makes sense. Passed unanimously.

* Flu shot bill again. We won't have to get prescription to get a flu shot. This cleans up some constitutional conundrums. And hopefully this is the last we will ever hear of this again.

* They are dealing with a lot of "clean up" bills - closing loopholes and what not. Not much to see hear. Moving on.

* I heard about this Robert Brown speech on the Milledgeville Veterans Hospital earlier at Peach Pundit. Let's see if it's really as bad as the prone-to-fainting-boys over there said. It was certainly passionate but I didn't see any screaming and pounding and ranting. Makes you wonder if when their own Eric Johnson was actually caught flat out fabricating in that august body two years ago if the PP boys were already dead unconscious on their fainting couches.

* Sen. Renee Untermann promises her committee is tracking the status of veterans carefully.

* Susanna Capelouta is on to talk about science teachers. I feel compelled to consult my editor before I report what she says. My editor has decided that we should reciprocate Susanna's feelings about crediting certain types of sources.

* Oooooooo! A new cop car. I like cars. It looks pretty cool. Kinda like a Dodge Charger mated with something from Robocop. This one is custom built by a Georgia manufacturer.

* GPB is moving to digital transmitters today. Hope you got your converter boxes!

* Peanut Power Hour! That means lobbyists telling us not all goobers are laced with the salmonella. It probably doesn't help there's a shot of the person handling a pack of crackers with gloves. Ooooooo! Apples and peanut butter! That's one of my favorite snacks. Bottom line - peanut products are "safe and delicious". Alan Freedman went a little Martha Stewart there.

* Sen. Vincent Fort wants a moratorium on the death penalty. Gotta give it to Sen. Fort - he ain't afraid of tackling bears.

* U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson swung by to let us all know he's running again.

* Oh lord. Senate hazing. This always happens when a freshman Senator offers his or her first bill. They have to stand there and answer inane questions like why did you change the word "the" to "this". They think this is high humor.

* Oh my dear lord. Nwandi couldn't figure out to which camera she should deliver the wrap (to be fair it didn't switch to the center one as usual) and when they finally got that straight, some flunky is caught waving his hands in front of the live camera. Between this and the dead mic earlier it was like a throwback to the early days when GPB was completely done with hand puppets.

* Dave and Nwandi were doing all they could to not burst with laughter.

* Thank god that's a wrap.