AG candidate Ken Hodges has been granted immunity in the ongoing litigation stemming from the aftermath of "the" hospital case we probably all know about by now (Googling is left as an exercise for the reader). The opinion issued by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is worth a look - to be clear, the prosecutor who eventually filed the charges after Hodges recused himself from the case is still facing a lawsuit.

As an aside, it should be noted that this isn't exactly an issue the candidate has been running away from - he was in attendance at a Young Democrats of Atlanta meeting last Wednesday and was happy to answer a question about his handling of the case in detail.

When right-wing activist Ralph Reed announced Wednesday he would not be a candidate in the 7th Congressional District race, he said he decided against running because he wanted to spend his time "continuing to serve as CEO of Century Strategies, LLC, and founding chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition."

Continue reading "No help for 'Casino Jack'" »

Tuesday was supposed to be a day when Tea Party activists would show up in force at the state capitol to demonstrate their growing political clout for all those legislators foolish enough to think that Georgia might need a tax increase to keep state government from collapsing. The stage, thanks to the financial support of tobacco giant Altria, was set for anti-tax zealot Grover Norquist to swoop in as the featured speaker who would fire up the teabagger hordes.

Continue reading "Weak tea" »

We've posted about this before, but I continue to be amazed at how steeply Florida's Republican governor, Charlie Crist, has fallen off a cliff in the U.S. Senate race. The latest indicator comes from Public Policy Polling with a survey out of the Sunshine State that shows teabagger favorite Marco Rubio leading Crist by 60-28 percent.

Continue reading "Crist un-anointed" »

Nancy Badertscher, over at the AJC's Gold Dome Live, is reporting that

The Legislature is temporarily moving to a three-day work week and now expected to end the 40-day session in mid- to late April.

Lawmakers had planned to meet this week through Friday, but voted to end the week on Thursday and then go to a three-day week for two weeks, or through March 25.

Mid-to Late April means the general session will probably end pretty close to this year's qualifying period. There's going to be a lot of grumpy legislators who won't be able to start fundraising for their re-elections. But, they are doing the people's business so I guess it's better that they stay and get the budget fixed so the people can get on with their business.

So if you're sitting on some dough and want to give it to a good Democratic candidate, then pass some change over to Mike Freeman who is the only Democrat running in the 9th District (Flip Flopper Nathan Deal's seat). Freeman is running against like 8 bazillion Republicans and can use your support. Contribute here. If Perdue gets his act together there will probably be a special election sometime in May.

Georgia GOP's candidate for Lt. Governor, Aleq Boyle, fails yet again with social media. Boyle's recent tweets gives us a birdseye view on how he feels about Georgia's Black voters and now his Facebook page lets us in on how he feels about voters who worship the Islamic faith.

A cursory look at Aleq's Facebook page finds this:

What is the Stop Islamization of America? (I refuse to give them any link love) According to their Facebook page:

SIOA is determined to prevent (and reverse where necessary) the implementation of sharia law in the United States.

SIOA does not consider it a crime to criticize mohammed and islam; it considers it a duty.

SIOA intends to keep the U.S. and the West the most prosperous and free part of the world and it will do this through action.

Wherever islamism rears its ugly head SIOA will be there. Its members are undaunted by the criticism SIOA receives from all sides.

The self-styled anti-fascists brand us right-wing fascist nationalists and racists.

SIOA will support having regular anti-islamist demonstrations and intends to up its activity in the future.

Just so we are clear, the Stop Islamization of America isn't a random group you can click and join on Facebook. SIOA is pretty secretive and selective on who they let in their group. According to their Facebook page:

This is a CLOSED group for now. Please send a request to join and we will get back to you asap. Thanks!

Just an awesome and welcoming group to join when you are running for office to represent all Georgia citizens. Wow, Georgia GOP ya'll have outdone yourselves on this year's candidate recruitment.

h/t Gunner

Candidates and elected officials please take note on why you should not be at the helm of your social networking. I can count maybe one or two campaigns that successfully used Twitter or Facebook but I can count a whole lot more candidates who's campaigns failed horribly by incorrectly using social media.

Here's an example of Twitter gone bad:
Aleq Boyle, who filed his paperwork on March 4, 2010 to run for Georgia's Lt. Governor as a Republican, has a Twitter account. When you google Aleq Boyle, you find such pleasantries that he has tweeted across the internets, like this:

Seriously? Seriously? This guy is running to become a State Constitutional officer. Does he think tweeting this utterly racist statement will make voters believe that he will represent all Georgia citizens? I'm thinking that the 1,685,282 Black registered voters in the State of Georgia, which represents almost 30% of all registered voters, might not think Aleq Boyle will represent them if he is ever elected.

You might think I'm getting my panties in a bunch over one tweet. Nope Aleq Boyle seems to have a history of tweeting racist thoughts. Here's another precious gem from the Grand Wizard himself.

Aleq, it might be ok not to speak in political correct terms when you are sitting by the campfire warming your sheets by the burning of a few crosses, but you should really get a clue when you a) have an open twitter account and b) want to run for public office.

This might be appropriate twitter chat if Aleq was running for Mayor of lily white Mayberry (although I think Andy Griffith would kick his ass), but he's not. This dysfunctional wannabe Grand Wizard is trying to run for Statewide office.

Once again, the Georgia Republicans have another poster boy candidate to represent them.

h/t Jason Pye

Tune in tonight at 7PM.

David McAvoy of the blog, Blue Arkansas will be on for a discussion about politics in Arkansas. Kentucky, Florida and Georgia are on the list tonight too.

Georgia State Representative Doug McKillip will call in to fill us in on his proposals for solving the higher education funding problems in Georgia.

And, finally, David, Tim, and I will offer up some suggestions for films based on current political stories. I've got some good ones - casts and all! Tune in from 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM. Or download from BlogTalk Radio or iTunes!

Open thread because it's been a tough week.

Since raising them seems to be all the rage here are some answers to your questions.

If you aren't reading this or watching this you probably don't realize how dysfunctional your state government really is.

First we heard she was running. Then she did her first "radio" interview on Kudzu Vine.

3D or no 3D? Opening weekend? Wait a week? What's a fan to do? Must see.

I love y'all, but I'd rather be here.

What's up with you?

Tune in tonight at 9 pm to talk with State Representative Virgil Fludd (D-Tyrone). Rep. Fludd will talk live with BfD viewers for 1 hour. Sign up now on Ustream so you can chat live and ask Rep. Fludd questions.

Recorded U-Stream video is here.

Representative Virgil Fludd represents the citizens of District 66, which includes portions of Fayette and Fulton Counties. He was elected into the House of Representatives in 2002, and currently serves on the Banks & Banking, Regulated Industries, and Ways & Means Committees.

As Georgia faces an unprecedented budget deficit, due to 7 years of poor Republican leadership, there are Democrats in the State Assembly fighting for Georgia families. Rep. Fludd is one of those Democrats offering solutions that can help Georgia families. Solutions that can prevent Georgia college students from facing a 77% tuition hike, that can improve our education system by preventing teacher furloughs, prevent critical health, social services and public safety programs from suffering deep budget cuts.

Rep. Fludd introduced HB 1066 -

legislation that would generate approximately $220 million through a temporary one percent surcharge for married couples who have a total income of more than $400,000 and single individuals with an income of $200,000. The additional income tax surcharge affects less than one percent of Georgia taxpayers.

"As we all know, the state of Georgia is facing tough times so we have to do everything we can to maintain a balanced budget without laying off teachers or eliminating important programs," said Representative Fludd. "No one likes tax increases but these are very unusual times. We need strong leadership because spending cuts alone will not solve our problems. HB 1066 will help prevent these devastating cuts, while only affecting less than one percent of Georgia taxpayers."

According to Rep. Fludd, the state of Georgia has not adjusted income tax rates in more than 70 years and currently has a top income tax rate of six percent beginning at $10,000. Other states have recently issued similar surcharges, including North Carolina and Wisconsin.

Continue reading "Democrats Live: Talking Taxes with Rep. Virgil Fludd" »

From the Democratic Party of Georgia:

TO: Georgia politicians that advocate college tuition hikes,

We, concerned citizens and students within Georgia, strongly condemn the attempt to balance the Georgia budget on the backs of college students, faculty and staff.

The attempt to violently cut $385 million from the higher education budget for the 2010 calendar year will result in dramatically higher tuition rates, could bankrupt the HOPE scholarship, and will result in drastically reduced college services.

State Senator Harp's encouragement of a 77% tuition hike is unjust. All college students begin school with the expectation that tuition will remain relatively stable over a four year time. A one-year increase of 77% is clearly beyond any sense of fairness.

Over 4,000 jobs will be lost, and core services of our educational system will vanish.

We sign this petition with the understanding that it will be delivered to the appropriate decision-makers in our State Capitol, and that our voices (and votes) will be a crucial commodity in this November's elections.

Don't raise the fees on our degrees!

Sign Petition here

Can we say "YEEAAAAHHH"?? Teh freaking awesome Georgia Republican Party - your leader is returning to save ya'll - woot!woot!!

According to The Hill:

Ralph Reed (R) is "seriously" contemplating a run for the House seat being vacated by Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.), according to CBN's David Brody. Reed has made his interest known to key grassroots leaders and local elected officials around the district, but has not yet made a decision.

Reed was the first executive director of Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition and later ran for lieutenant governor of Georgia. His political downfall came from his close ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Yeah baby, Ralph Reed might make a comeback. Ralph Reed, Nathan Deal, and The Ox - the royale battle of political egos. As the other GOP political ego maniac says "Bring It On"!!

All this talk of "reconciliation", up and down votes, majority rules- boys drool.. ok I added last one to see if you were paying attention.

This is important to stuff to understand, and will likely be the way the vote goes down after last Thursdays utter deadlock on any compromise. Please note, this procedure has been successfully used as a tactic for the Republicans-many a time. Although I heard a lot of whhhaaaaammmmmbulance calling since Friday about it being so unfair from our "friends" in the opposition. Meanwhile the Republican's are setting some sort of filibuster record! Yay obstruction-just what the American people need more of!

Ezra Klein takes a look at reconciliation on his blog this morning, noting: "Reconciliation has, in general, been a Republican endeavor. Political scientist Joshua Tucker looked at the 19 times reconciliation was used between 1981 and 2005, and found that 14 of them were Republican initiatives. If you extend that analysis out to 2008, then 16 of 21 reconciliation bills were Republican."

Seriously though, we haven't gotten into the nerdy part yet- it's in the clip below, which is worth six minutes of your time.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

How do you get this gig you ask? Well here you go, from our friends at CSPAN.

The Senate Parliamentarian serves at the pleasure of the Senate Majority Leader, and functions under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate as a non-partisan employee of the Senate. The House Parliamentarian serves with the consent of the Speaker of the House, also in a non-partisan capacity, advising Members of both parties. The complexity of the job requires years of apprenticeship, and the leaders of both chambers have respected the institutional experience necessary to perform the job well. Sitting Parliamentarians hire their own assistants, and for decades, those assistants have advanced to the position of Parliamentarian when a vacancy has occurred.

I hope you all caught the part about Vice President Biden really being the one to yield the big gavel, if you get my drift.

Said Dove: "The parliamentarian only can advise. It is the vice president who rules.

Good times people, good times.

Nathan Deal did Democrats a big favor by deciding to resign early from his seat in the U.S. House to concentrate on running for governor (Deal did himself an even bigger favor, because his early resignation will squelch an embarrassing move by the House Ethics Committee to resolve an ethics complaint related to Deal's lucrative business deal with the state involving an auto salvage firm he owns).

Continue reading "Deal gives Democrats a helping hand" »

It's been awhile, and maybe some of you need to vent.

I've have a busy day. First was shopping for Spring shoes, and aren't these fabulous, made out of recycled TV's. From OlsenHaus vegan Spring 2010 collection, more here.

After that bit of exhaustive research I learned a little about Nikola Tesla. Why? Do I really need a reason?

Ugh, alrightPrincess Sparkle Pony made me, that's why.

Just a reminder on this day in 1848 Marx & Engels publish "Communist Manifesto", and Republicans begin immediately to misquote it.

Oh yeah, yawn...The Patriot Act is renewed without any civil liberties protections and it appears no one cares but the ACLU and Boing Boing. Interesting combination to say the least.