Keep the Big Door Open. Everyone'll Come Around.

More on Michael McNeely Madness

If you consider yourself a Republican, chances have it that you've already heard of the McNeelys' exclusion from their county's GOP convention. On Saturday Michael McNeely the current head of the Georgia Black Republican Council, and his wife were two of five members of their precinct present at their county's mass precinct meeting. Because a maximum of 15 delegates could be sent to the county's GOP convention, both expected to be selected, however, Precinct Chairman Jack Gamel put their selection to a vote and in turn, denied the two the privilege of serving as delegates to the Douglas County GOP Convention.

Of course, come Sunday evening GAGOP'er were coming out of the woodwork to publicly express their disapproval of the McNeelys' exclusion from their county's convention; overnight, McNeely Madness became a fashionable, bandwagon campaign; within just a few hours, the Facebook fan page of Michael McNeely's campaign for GAGOP 1st Vice Chair acquired a ridiculous number of new "likes," and suddenly, Georgia Republicans were outspoken about their support for Michael and "minority outreach."

Give me a break! This swarming of supporters is just as superficial and misguided as the term, "minority outreach." I've been a Michael McNeely supporter for a while now and have and will be the first of my conservative friends to include everyone in the political "conversation," but I feel that viewing the Michael McNeely exclusion as racist may be jumping the gun.

I Will Go in This Way

When One Door Closes..., Be Glad There's Always Been a Window in the Room.

A few days ago I submitted an article to my campus newspaper, half expecting it to be featured in that week's edition. The editors though, determined that my "presentation was not up to contemporary professional standards," letting me know that my "voice lacks the range of tonal color necessary to make it consistently interesting," so my piece wasn't ever published. For your viewing pleasure, here's the unedited draft of my submission, typos and all:

Manifestations of the Same Problem: Georgia College's Bomb Scare & The Newton Tragedy

No One Would Believe It Except the Nutjobs

Why Did GCSU's Chick-fil-A Sales Increase by 8%, and What's All the Beef Really About?

I'd hate to jump to any conclusions. Go ahead, skim through the headlines, and decide for yourself.

• August 17th:
• Hundreds of students invited to a CFA "buycott":
• September 10th:
• Activist goes on public tirade.
• November 8th:
• Campus paper covers student government's condemnation of CFA.
• November 15th: 
• Campus paper reports student government's review of CFA's contract with Dining Services.
•  Mid-November:
• 300+ sign online petition to keep CFA on campus. (Zac Brown wrote the petition...)
• November 29th:
• Campus paper continues to milk the CFA cow.
• January 17th:
• Campus paper writes on formation of "Student Government CFA Taskforce (seriously...),  lead by activist and the upcoming "CFA Town Hall Meeting."
• January 24th:
• Campus paper notes outcome of CFA shenanigans, a Nigerian-born student standing up for the restaurant's freedom of speech.

So Much to Say

Fracking, Colbert for Congress, Inauguration Music, Romney the Liar , & the NYC mayoral race.

· Big fracking deal – NJ’s moratorium has expired. Here’s the kicker: The only possible fracking sites in NJ are in northern areas near the Delaware River, and in September the Governor vetoed a bill which would have prohibited companies from storing or disposing fracking wastewater within the state, on the grounds that the ban would have been an unconstitutional regulation of interstate commerce, as fracking was prohibited in NJ at that time. Christie’s set to comment on the issue before the end of January.

· Colbert’s sister, Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, will run for South Carolina’s 1st U.S. Congressional District seat as a Democrat. Republicans won about two thirds of the district's vote last November, so we shouldn’t be surprised that a more serious contended hasn’t come forward.

· President Obama released the playlist for his inauguration, and it’s God-awful. There ought to be laws against playing Marc Anthony tunes at public events…

· Romney is a liar was completely right about Jeep relocation U.S. production facilities to China. Apparently, Obama did in fact sell “Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China.” This is yet another reason not to get your news from PolitiFact.

· Lhota from the MTA – He’s spoken out about his NYC mayoral plans, but his fate is still unlearn’d.

This Little Game Where Nothing is Sure

Withholding Congressional Pay: Possibly Unconstitutional, but Who's to Say

            Yesterday afternoon, House Republicans announced a few concessions  and agreed to extend the debt ceiling under three conditions: 1) The debt ceiling will be raised only for three months. 2) The debt ceiling may then be further extended only if the Senate passes a budget resolution before April 15^th. 3) Until the Senate passes a budget resolution, Congresspersons’ paychecks must be withheld.

            Stipulation #1 was to be expected; Republicans are going keep the budget and national debt at center stage for as long as the party may benefit from it being there. Stipulation #2 isn't much of a shocker either, but it’s not nearly as notable as the third. The last condition of yesterday’s House Republicans’ proposal brought into question the constitutionality of acts which would alter the timing of representatives’ compensation. Journalists from both sides of the political spectrum initially wrote this third stipulation off as a case of GOP showmanship, arguing that the ratification of the Twenty-seventh Amendment makes the Republican stipulation "a nice effort at grandstanding, except for the obnoxious fact that it is unconstitutional.” Such arguments may be lack sufficient support though.

            These critiques base themselves on a supposedly, commonly accepted and definitive interpretation of the Twenty-seventh Amendment, but no such interpretation has ever been written. In fact, the Supreme Court has never made a ruling on an aspect of the Twenty-seventh Amendment. Consequently, these criticisms of the House Republicans’ third stipulation are unfounded. With the Supreme Court having not yet identifying the specific qualities of a law which would “vary compensation,” such critiques are based largely on speculation.

So Much to Say

Baseball, Rules, Ethics, Letters from Home, Pedophobia, and a Four-Letter Word

• MLB owners approved three rule changes last week. Although they won't be implemented unless they get approved by the players’ union, the mere mention of altering the rules of America’s favorite pastime makes the story a headliner. These are the rules:
1. Allow coaches and managers to bring interpreters to the mound for conferences with foreign-born pitchers who don’t speak fluent English. Though this rule may in a way be a step forward for teams with non-English speaking pitchers, it may also give these teams an unfair advantage; unless the interpreters are paid by the officials, they’d be the equivalent of an additional (ununiformed) coach at the mound.
2. Teams will be permitted to have a seventh coach in uniform in the dugout, during games. This has little meaning in itself. Because there’s no limitation on the number of teams’ ununiformed coaches, the rule basically just eliminates a middle man.
3. The fake-to-third, throw-to-first pickoff move would be made a balk. Excellent addition. Let’s hope the players’ union gives it the okay.
• The Georgia Senate also made some rules changes. Here’s a rundown of two of ‘em – a “big” one and a “small” one.
1. The senate measure placed a $100 cap on lobbyist gifts, but as Jay Bookman and practically everyone else in the blogosphere points out, there are a vast number of exceptions to the rule. As expected, lobbyists will consequently continue to treat lawmakers to fun filled field trips and snack times. Typical. 
2. Under some circumstances, committee participation in the senate via video conference of teleconference may now be allowed. Welcome to the 21^st century! It's nice here. Make yourselves at home. 
• Rusty Kidd put forth a bill in the Georgia House of Representatives which would both require legislators to report lobbyist gifts and permit lobbyist to no long report such contributions. Leave it to the guy who talks openly about Georgia legislators being bribed with prostitutes to do the right thing something when it comes to ethics reform. Why lobbyists should be stripped of reporting requirements is unclear, as comparisons of such reports with those of lawmakers might be valuable tools for identifying corruption at the Capitol.
• The White House shared three elementary school children’s letters asking for gun control legislation. One of the shared letters was written by a little girl named Julia. Seriously. Please, tell us more about the Life of Julia? We’re all dying to hear.
• Phil Gingrey deleted his twitter account shortly after his comments on conception where “misconstrued” by his opponents in order for them to add fuel to the Akin fire.
• An Ohio teacher’s suing her former school district  for its failing to accommodate her disability of pedophobia. I'm speechless.

No Words Exchanged

Should Box Offices Resemble Grocery Stores?

            When it comes to grocery shopping, I’m a badass. If I’ve got a couple bucks, an empty stomach, and a shopping cart, I’ll be in and out of the store in minutes with a month’s supply of rations. Just about everything – the aisles, prices, nutritional content – is labeled, so it’s easy for me to find exactly what I want, as quickly as I want. If you ever need a guy to go grocery shopping with you, I’m your man, but please…, when we go to the movies don’t expect me choose the film we’ll be seeing.

            Picking a movie isn’t anything like choosing a slab of meat or a box of cereal. Aside from their trailers and MPAA film-rating, you don’t really have a clue what you’re buying. Movies don’t itemize their nutritional content, so to speak, so often times, picking a winning film is a shot in the dark. I still love the cinema though. I even consider myself a bit of a film buff.

            Coen, Eastwood, Hitchcock, Nolan, Scorsese, Spielberg, Tarantino, you name the director and I’ll tell you all about his works. Even though I usually have no clue what’s in store, I’ll never pass down a chance to see a flick. Thankfully, once a month, with an airing of a foreign film, my university gives me an opportunity to indulge in this little hobby of mine.

            Eight days ago, I received an email, telling me which film’ll be aired. It told me (and everyone else on the listserv) that on the eleventh of the month, the German film, Die Welle (The Wave) will be played in our college’s auditorium, followed by a discussion. The email didn’t provide many details; it only said that Die Welle was “seductive and horrifying” and didn’t contain any “frontal nudity this time,” but, being a self-proclaimed film buff, I wasn’t bothered by the vague description and decided to attend. Much like the time I chose to see the musical, Rent, the movie’s plotline ended up a being a complete and regrettable surprise.

SPOILER ALERT: