It's always fun to be a spectator

They’ve been dragging their feet down here under the Gold Dome, but this week things are picking up big time.

Sen. Fort introduced a bill to impose a moratorium on the death penalty. SB 175. Shalom.

Johnny Isakson announced his intention to run for his U.S. Senate seat again in 2010. Lots of people gathered around, but no one asked the question..."Six more years of what, exactly?"

There are some whispers that they may be reconsidering the long break between March and June. Maybe we’ll get a better feel for that when Gov. Perdue holds his press conference on how more federal dollars might influence the state’s budget.

On top of that, this week we’re staying on top of hearings on Sunday Sales and School Vouchers, and the Senate version of the GSU professors sex Inquistion. http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2009/02/02/sex_experts_legislature.html
And there's still Georgia Power's plan to get us all to pay in advance so they can build a couple of nuclear reactors in Georgia. The first one is not even scheduled to begin construction until 2016. And even this first plant has not yet received all approvals. Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown reflected eloquently from the well this morning and bemoaned the Senate vote to approve this sweetheart deal. Actually his booming voice reflected too...one of the better raise-the-rafters speeches heard in a long time. Sometime speaking with authority has its proper decibel level.

It’s always nerve-wracking to have 2 or 3 committee hearings to get to every afternoon, but now there are 2 or 3 at the same time – in different buildings.

Day 13 -- One way to get out of the house

Another person commented on school vouchers today: "After 9 years of cuts, this is just another chip in the plan to eventually eliminate public schools."

Maybe it was because this assault on public education was on our mind, but it was difficult to be excited about the homeschoolers lobbying all over the place today. Not wanting to disparage them or their education, it was sort of painful to watch them unsuccessfully try to interact. They were cute, and they had their literature and their promotional tables, but they really did seem to need to get out more. Sorry.

Day 12

February 3

Cutting education funds, cutting school nurses, and now proposing vouchers, which would take even more money out of the education system.

Why don't they just go ahead and engrave the tombstone "Public Schools R.I.P." and be done with it?