Gotta have a gun

Georgians are bound and determined to put our worst foot forward.

Outside the horrors of slavery and the Civil War and reconstruction that all the Southern states went through, perhaps the biggest shame came to Georgia in the late 1940's when we had three men claiming to be governor.  Shortly after, I went to college in another state and got teased with:  "How many governors does your state have today?"

Well, there was actually an explanation for that.   Gene Talmadge has just been re-elected governor for a fourth term but died before inauguration day, and the law was unclear on such a situation.

Hence three claims to the seat:  (1) The incumbent governor claimed he served until his successor was chosen;  (2)  The Lt. Governor-elect claimed he should have been seated;  and (3)  The Legislature claimed it had the responsibility to elect a governor in this situation and elected Talmadge's son, Herman.   Ultimately the GA Supreme Court decided that the Lt. Governor-elect would serve as Acting Governor until a special election could be held, which resulted in Herman Talmadge being ultimately elected by the people.

But back to today.   There's Honey Boo Boo.   The whole world is laughing at us hicks with the trashy values and uneducated boorishness, played out for laughs as a reality show.

Then there are our politicians.   Congressman Paul Braun gets us quite a bit of shame-mileage out of his proclamations, such as "Evolution and the Big Bang Theory are lies straight from the pits of hell."   Now he's running for the senate, which will keep this going until November 2014.   Another congressman, Phil Gingary initially sided with Rep. Todd Akins's claim that women don't get pregnant from rape;  he's been trying to walk it back, now that he also is running for the senate.

The scandal of the moment -- described as the biggest school cheating scandal in U. S. history -- led to the indictment of 26 teachers and administrators, including the much decorated superintendent herself, Beverly Hall, who last night was got finger-printed and booked into the local jail before being released on bond.

Now comes the latest worst-foot story.   Nelson, Georgia is a town of 1,300 just 50 miles north of Atlanta, and I had never heard of it.   But now the world is hearing that its city council has just passed an ordinance requiring every head of household to own a gun and bullets.   Already they've had media calling from as far away as Germany.

Kennesaw did the same in the 1980's, but apparently did not enforce the law.  And its not likely to be enforced in Nelson either.   Loopholes excuse those who are mentally or physically impaired, as well as anyone who just doesn't want to own a gun.

But here's the thing:  Nelson has no violent crime.   But a spokesman explained, "If you plan on doing us harm, we'll be armed."  Not clear who "you" refers to, but supposedly it's some outsiders.   Another council member said, "It's like a big security sign for our city."

Actually, it's merely a statement, which they have no plans to enforce, spawned by the Second Amendment Fever opidemic that is sweeping the nation.

From my perspective, it is but one more example of Georgia putting its worst foot forward for the world to laugh at.    It' almost enough to make me wish I lived somewhere else.

Ralph