Fresh Loaf

This has been a long day, as you can tell. Now we’re greeted to this news from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Sen. Judson Hill, R-Marietta, and Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, want to amend the state Constitution to “protect Georgia’s citizens from being forced into government-run health care.”

Here’s what Hill said in a press release:

“Our country was founded on individual freedom and liberty. Today we’re proposing a Constitutional Amendment that ensures every Georgian the freedom to accept or reject any health care or health insurance plan. The Amendment would also prohibit any government from punishing an individual or business that does not participate in such health plans. Passage of this Amendment is the best way to protect Georgians from the Democrat led Congress’ attempt to socialize healthcare through their ‘public option’ health care mandate.”

But when pressed by reporters about their plan at a press conference this afternoon, Hill and Rogers made clear they hadn’t really thought through the proposal.

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Tonight anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 people will converge upon the Georgia Capitol to shake their fists and dangle their rage-filled tea bags in protest over nanny-state, big-spending guvmint!

Notables expected to bask in the spotlight — or face possible jeers — include America’s Most Noble Human Sean Hannity, former U.S. Rep. Dick Armey of Texas, a country singer, and this guy who wants you to know about the dangers of the approaching digital TV signal conversion. State lawmakers include Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger, and Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers of Woodstock.

And it looks like the $25,000 fete will create confusion for motorists.

“The Tea Party at the Capitol combined with Braves traffic could possibly create a traffic nightmare,” said Paul Marshall, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

Marshall advises using MARTA if going to either event, and he urged Braves fans traveling by car to take the Fulton Street exit off the Downtown Connector to avoid the area surrounding the Capitol, where he said the Hannity event “could draw thousands.”

Yes, MARTA, the same public transit system that many of the GOP honchos who are attending or contributing to tonight’s event kissed off during the legislative session.

If you do decide to drive to the protest on the metro region’s heavily subsidized road system, be prepared for gridlock. The AJC quotes Marshall as saying the worst traffic will be during rush hour and at approximately 11 p.m. CBS Atlanta has a list of road closures. Central Atlanta Progress and the Georgia Building Authority have maps of nearby parking lots.

MARTA, however, will be your best bet. Check out Citizens for Progressive Transit’s A-TRAIN trip planner for the best route to and from public transportation.

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It’s often been theorized that small-town newspapers have the best hope for surviving the withering of the print media that’s occurring in every large city in America — including, of course, Atlanta. If that theory proves to be correct in Georgia, it will be despite the best efforts of state Sen. Cecil Staton, R-Macon

Last year, Staton introduced a bill — SB 391, to be exact — that would effectively deal a death blow to most small and mid-sized newspapers in Georgia by stripping them of lucrative legal ads. Described simply, his measure would shift legal ads and public notices from local papers onto a website authorized by the Secretary of State’s office.

The danger of Staton’s bill, which has yet to be reintroduced this session, is not that it has powerful backers — although it does — or that he’s particularly skillful at pushing bills through. The danger lies in the fact that his idea — or some version of that idea — actually makes a great deal of sense.

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