Gonzo Lawmakers - Day 20

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.

Day 20

* Day 20. Exactly half way. In legislative time. I'm hoping for more hand puppets tonight.

* Minoo! She's back tonight! Maybe she was doing special investgations at PC Beach.

* Poison peanuts are not done. More regulation. From Republicans. The power of the salmonella is boundless. Senate bill to require when something comes back tainted, the company reports it to the Ag Dept within 24 hours. Imagine Craig Ferguson saying this next part. I know! I thought we'd already have that too!

* Another unanimous bill. Ho-hum. Oh wait! This one does away with an entire department. It must be something useless like the Department of Turnip Pullers. No? It does away with the Department of Transportation? Well, we definitely need a live shot for that one.

* Valerie has her mic tonight. We've already surpassed last night's chaos.

* Seriously. All of us political geeks knew the powers that be were mucking around with the DOT but blow it up completely? Balls.

* Gratuitous shot of the connector.

* This is the House version of the T-SPLOST. Statewide and all that. But why do I feel the back of my neck tingling? This whole thing feels like a major shift in government power trying to slip by under the cover of budget noise. It feels like we should all start paying a lot more attention to this one.

* God help us. The ARC's involved.

* This is the second proposal that would do away with the DOT?! I've got to start paying more attention to Georgia Legislative Watch. And here is where I have to chastise my friends at Lawmakers. There is a move to destroy, arguably, the most powerful agency in the state and it's barely been covered previously? It's time for less choirs and protestors and time for more digging.

* Eliminate the inventory tax, phase out of the corporate income tax. Republicans bringing their pet projects up.

* More technical stuff on property taxes. I know the devil's in the details and this is the kind of stuff that blows up later but lord knows, it just ain't that exciting. Buying. Selling. It's all about perspective says Steve Thompson. How many angels were dancing on pinheads in the Senate today? It passed 46-6. Democracy in action.

* Foreclosure bills. Must be Vincent Fort time. There he is. Other than that its a bunch of lobbyists. Yawn.

* The House approved a name change of something. Now that the stimulus package passed, we're back in the doldrums. God bless the GPB folks for finding a way to fill 30 whole minutes.

* Sunday sales! Thank god! Oh. It's just a committee meeting and don't get to see it until tomorrow night. Stretccccccch that content.

* God help us all, Charlice Byrd's insane rant about "queer theory" made CNN. The professors who teach these demonic courses actually testified to a committee about what they really do. I suppose that would be a good thing given they explain how scientific research is actually done, but the fact is they're probably talking to people who believe the earth is only 10,000 years old, pounding sand might have been more constructive.

* Minoo!

* Minoo talks to freshman legislators who are overwhelmed. Bless their hearts.

* Leadership interview - Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers. He's talking stimulus. Who wants to bet he doesn't say "we ain't gonna take that sinful money"? He actually went a step further. Chip says that through reserve funds and some shifting of money around, they were able to find the funds for the Homeowner Tax Relief Grant. I'm pretty sure Governor Perdue didn't sign that sucker until we knew we were getting our portion of the D.C. slop in the trough.

* I bet Chip Rogers has to shave twice a day.

* We're down to covering sub-committee meetings on teens using cellphones while driving. You know, gentle readers, once upon a time, I believed we needed a full time legislature. No more. It is apparent 40 days gives the devil far too much time with idle hands. Can you imagine how deep they would delve into our lives if they were there year-round?

* Decriminalize food service at transit (i.e. MARTA) stations. A good idea. But I can think of something else they could discuss decriminalizing that would be far more interesting.

* Dave just said coming up next is a "very powerful Georgia Traveller". I know he really wanted to say a "very special Georgia Traveller".

* It's starting to get loopy. That's a wrap.