Radical Georgia Moderate

1. Sharon’s Neurotransmitters Reach Cease-Fire Agreement
   from The Onion
2. Bush’s State of the Union address to be simulcast in English
   from Melissa’s blog.

A little while ago, after I took old one eye to the optometrist, I noticed a jug of anti-freeze that had been sitting by my desk for a few days and decided I wanted to get rid of it. Said anti-freeze was a type the GDGF bought thinking it would be compatible with her Jetta, but it turned out not to be. My truck also takes a haughty taughty type of coolant, so I’m offering this anti-freeze to the first taker:

If you would like some free anti-freeze, you can drop by the Ice House Lofts in Decatur and pick it up. It’s sitting on top of the mailboxes. It’s unopened. First come, first serve.

From God’s Senator, a profile of Sam Brownback in Rolling Stone:

Or, the march to theocracy. Or, so much for avoiding a controversial mid-term election session. Glenn Richardson says the House is likely to pass a bill permitting the display of the Ten Commandments and “other historical documents” in county courthouses. History at least implies “not fake,” even if it doesn’t always achieve that end (Columbus “discovering” America, etc.). Courts will probably strike it down, then the GOP will have something to campaign on without really accomplishing anything (again). Hurrah for the fucking Bible Belt.

Now things are getting interesting.

UPDATE: That was fun while it lasted. Kerry had himself, Ted Kennedy, and… and… that’s about it (login) on board for a fillibuster. Doh. Alito’s record indicates he is extremely friendly to Republican positions (I won’t call him “conservative” because Republican positions aren’t conservative at all these days), but there’s nothing to indicate he isn’t qualified for the job. I think it’s pretty amazing that Harry Reid even managed a strict party line vote in committee.

Let’s delve into some semantics. You may know already that I think a fundamental problem with all political discussion is not agreeing on standard nomenclature. In particular, the words “conservative” and “liberal” have been thoroughly bastardized by the media and by politicians and rendered essentially meaningless in common discussion.

It’s been a strange day. The low coolant light in Amber’s VW Jetta was flashing red Sunday, and one can’t just buy coolant for a VW at the local Citgo; G12 A8D antifreeze for Audis and Volkswagens can only be purchased through dealer service departments or over the Internets. So, we had to drop by Jim Ellis VW at the ass crack of dawn to pick some up, and then I drove her to work.

For all my bitching about MARTA, taking its trains to work totally rocks my socks compared to the snarled nightmare that was driving on I285 and I85 this morning. Well, I never got to I85 because the line of cars entering the on-ramp was moving at a rate of about one car length per hour-and-a-half. How do so many people put up with that sort of driving commute every day?

Instead, I looped around on Piedmont to get to Peachtree, where we stopped at Starbucks for some burnt coffee and a chai latté. That’s where we encountered the aborted kids, whom Amber already described in a comment on Duane’s blog:

I saw some of those pre-teen anti-choice “activists” at Starbucks (how cliche American is that?) this morning, wearing cutesy baby blue and pink shirts with little graphics of paper dolls, where some were cut out and it said, “Aborted.” The GDBF suggested I announce to them that I’ve had 4 abortions in the past 3 years and if I have one more I’ll get a free coffee maker.

I’m hardly qualified to have much of an opinion on abortion, given my lack of a uterus and whatnot. That said, those giggling cunts made me wish I could get knocked up just so I could have an abortion, film it, rip it to my computer, add titles to it in iMovie, apply a theme to it in iDVD, and send them all burnt copies. If only I could decide what theme to apply. I think I’d rip off that “All About Lucas” theme from Apple’s site and rename it “All About Stumpy.”

I’d like to end on that note, but it doesn’t cover all the weirdness. My check engine light came on this afternoon, and it turned out my truck was also low on coolant. I drove to five different places searching for DexCool before going out of my way to Autozone. The warning light in her car went away after adding coolant, but didn’t go away in mine. Doh.

I‘m already discouraged about the 2006 midterm elections. Yesterday, Democrats were endorsing using my taxpayer dollars to pay for a Bible study class. Today, it’s reported Secretary of State Cathy Cox — a Democrat, and by all accounts the most “progressive” candidate for governor — broke a 2-2 tie on the state elections board vote to fund a $2 million legal defense fund for the Voter ID law. Among those who voted against the fund were Randy Evans, a longtime Republican partisan. So don’t tell me she had to vote the way she did.

Anyway… if these folks are just going to push the same agenda as the Republican governor and legislature, why even bother voting? If the agenda is going to be identical or close to identical, why choose someone else to run it?

Sometimes, I think Lush is right that it’s stupid to even pay an iota of attention to any of this.

Cracker Squire has the goods from InsiderAdvantage.

Georgia’s public high schools would be allowed to offer an academic study of the Bible as an elective under legislation introduced Wednesday not [by] Republicans, whose base would seem to be most supportive of the idea, but by Democrats.

A trio of Democrats — Sens. Tim Golden of Valdosta, Doug Stoner of Smyrna and Kasim Reed of Atlanta — announced the legislation at a news conference, offering statements of approval of the proposal from some religious and education groups.

I could probably stand schools offering a broad religious studies class that included Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Worshippingnutsackism, and Whippingdefenselessanimalswithawetnoodleism, but not one that singles out Christianity. That’s some bullshit. I won’t vote for anyone who panders to that crowd. Are you listening Mark Taylor? Cathy Cox? Whomever my Rep. and Senator in Decatur is, whom I have yet to look up? I will not, under any circumstance, willingly vote for someone who wants to spend my tax dollars on a goddamn Bible Study class. Come out in favor of this legislation, and you’ve lost my vote. I’ll sit this one out or write myself in.

UPDATE: The AJC has its article (login). Bridget Gutierrex, the writer, should be fired. Check this sentence:

Policy and legal experts say educators long have been confused about whether teaching the Bible in public schools violates the so-called separation of church and state.

And…

Over at Blog for Democracy, political expedience apparently trumps ideology.

As much as I would have liked to have viewed President Bush’s NSA spying program as extraordinary compared to what other presidents have done, I wasn’t convinced until I read this article. The ACLU is suing the National Security Agency to halt the program, and one of the plaintiffs jumped out at me.

Journalist James Bamford, a plaintiff and author of “The Puzzle Palace: A Report on NSA, America’s Most Secret Agency,” said that “the spying program removes a necessary firewall that would prevent the kind of government abuse seen during the Watergate scandal.”

James Bamford knows more about the NSA than any civilian on the planet. I’ve read another of his books about the agency (Body of Secrets), and it is the most detailed account of its kind I’ve ever read. If he says Bush’s spying is beyond the pale of what is acceptable, I believe him.