There's Never An Egg Timer When You Need One

Remember earlier when I noted I would be saying "monumental waste of time" more often?

Democrat Pam Dickerson of Conyers wants to make photoshopping heads onto bodies of the nude variety illegal.

Did Britney Spears move to Rep. Dickerson's district and nobody noticed?

Urine Better Than Mine

Before the session began today, Georgians were already exposed to the latest pissing contest.

Republicans Jason Spencer and John Albers think it is only fair that if you receive the roughly 400 bucks a month in welfare that we should make sure what is leftover after buying Chef Boy-ar-dee and Kraft Mac And Cheese isn't spent on the Mary Jane or worse. These fine stewards of public money think our best efforts should be spent on drug testing TANF (Transitional Assistance for Needy Families) recipients.

Spectacular idea! I bet Georgia is on the cutting edge of this type of innovative thought! Oh wait. We aren't? Florida is already lining up the clear plastic cups at the johnnies? Well, certainly before these two wise men of Georgia germinated this idea they must have looked south to see how things fare. Right?

Given that in October, a federal judge issued an injunction stopping the testing and prior to the obviously activist judge stepping in, only 32 people out of 7,000 tested positive, which  isn't that surprising given Florida's own study commission on the subject concluded the amount of positives would not justify the cost, I'm going to go with "no, they didn't".

Not to be outdone in the contest of political puffery, in steps Democrat Scott Holcomb, who wants to test the entire legislature.

Now, Rep. Holcomb is new to the job so perhaps he doesn't know that in 1997 the Supreme Court struck down a Georgia law (we didn't even have to go to Florida to look for this one!) requiring office seekers to step up to the urinalysis trough.

Or perhaps he did and he believes the best way to counter Republican ridiculousness is with Democrat ridiculousness.

Meanwhile, we all sit in traffic on the Perimeter, the Connector and everywhere in between, companies are beginning to question moving to Georgia because the quality of life ain't what it used to be and we continue to snatch school kids all over the place as no one knows what to do with the education system.

What a monumental waste of time. Get used to me saying that this session.

Inside Baseball Scorecard - BFD vs Peach Pundit

A hush hush payment to a former state employee has led to a tempest in a teapot. It remains to be seen if the teapot boils over and spills into the public awareness, but, as with most things of an insider nature, the insiders care deeply.

So, let's check the scorecard to see how they fared.

The Field of Play

On July 28 of this year, a Senate administrative committee paid $80,500 to an Atlanta law firm stating that it was to deal with a personnel issue. According to those involved, the sum came with a confidentiality agreement and the principles said no more.

Enter state Senator Vincent Fort. Sen. Fort claims the money settled a discrimination lawsuit filed by a former senate secretary. Fort is then followed by Democratic Senator Donzella James who not only furthers the story of discrimination but also names names. She claims the allegations were against Republican Senators Barry Loudermilk and William Ligon.

Enter Democratic Party of Georgia chair Mike Berlon. Berlon issues a press release asking Republican Senate leader Tommie Williams to release the details of the settlement. Later, Berlon releases a second statement echoing Donzella James' accusations

Loudermilk and Ligon issue statements hotly denying the implications.

With the gag order in place, what took place was a proxy war that played itself out on the states two most prominent partisan blogs.

Let's tally up the score.

The Players

DPG Chair Mike Berlon

Reality - As a lawyer, Berlon knows it is sticky to play around with a confidentiality agreement. As a politician, he knows that attacking when your opponent can't speak is a rare opportunity. As the DPG chair, he has a responsibility to fire up the troops and he would be derelict if he let this particular chance pass.

The Politics - Berlon is using a tactic since time immemorial but was crystallized by Lyndon B. Johnson in a congressional race when he ordered his campaign manager to tell the press his opponent fornicated with swine. When the campaign manager offered it was not true, Lyndon responded, "make him deny it".


Blog For Democracy

Reality - Blog For Democracy is doing its dutiful duty of releasing tidbits passed down from the DPG.As exhibited by their comment sections, they are accomplishing the number one task of an activist website; the troops are getting fired up.

The Politics - Passion has to have practice or it becomes a quickly extinguished flame. If this episode becomes another exercise in liberal epistemic closure, merely reinforcing the hard left's notion that all "rethuglicans" are racists, then it goes nowhere. If it is used as a smaller plot line that carries into a larger narrative of a lack of transparency by Republicans, then it may keep the base rallied.

Peach Pundit

Reality - It's rare the Republicans are put on the defensive and as Republicans are so adept at doing, they've fired back pretty hard. The charge is led by Todd Rehm (his fellow contributors are curiously quiet) who notes that if the Democrats want answers they can ask one of there own. Democratic Senator Steve Henson sits on the committee that approved the payment.

The Politics - Rehm's riposte is a good one but it's not as clean a narrative as "racial discrimination". Complicating the Republican's response is their flank is tender from pokes by tea party and others who always look askew at government.The comments by the anonymous and the trolls have not been kind. But more importantly, Debbie Dooley with the Atlanta Tea Party seems to be having none of it as well.

The Final Tally

Berlon and the BFD are narrowly winning this round.  However, Democrats tend to get wrapped around the axle on relatively minor issues (Alan Powell's residency) while Republicans were clutching the steering wheel of the entire car (winning practically every election in the state). Whether this issue stays a minor distraction or gains traction with the general public will determine the final tale of the tape.

Flavors Of Condescension

Advocacy for a particular political persuasion requires a belief one holds the correct point of view. However, there is a point where belief converts to condescension, arrogance, haughtiness or whatever word you can find in your thesaurus that equates to being a jackass.

In my travels, I have found the two dominant parties prefer different flavors of condescension.

Republican Flavor:

I'm right. You're wrong. Go pound sand.

At this time, there's just too many examples to list.

Democrat Flavor:

If only you were knowledgeable / understanding / worldly, you would change your mind

Latest example. Troy Davis.