We just can't keep the safety on

Georgia shoots itself in the foot, again.

Rep. Melvin Everson, R-Snellville, who introduced a bill in the House to cut off public benefits to illegal immigrants, said an influx of illegal workers is draining social services budgets. He cited as an example the additional teachers Gwinnett County schools have been forced to hire to teach English to newly arrived Hispanic children.

“The last time I checked, America was the land of English, not Spanish,’’ he told the crowd during Monday’s rally.

I love it when they say things like this - some day their kids are going to come across these quotes and just shake their heads sadly, and say, "Ay papi, pero porque?"

But Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, said the new law will hurt the state economically in the long run because it will hurt industries that rely on illegal-immigrant labor. He listed farming, poultry, textiles and construction as prime examples. “It’s sending the wrong message to immigrants considering coming to Georgia, that they’re not wanted or welcome,’’ he said. Gonzalez said the law also will damage Georgia’s efforts to attract the headquarters of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas to Atlanta.

Hey, maybe there's some third-rate trucking museum we can throw lots of money at...

And by saying it ain't so, GA (nearly former) governor Sonny Perdue reassures Georgians we're still a backwater state, and will be for as long as he has any say about it (Mexico slams Georgia migrant law).

He's playing the classic Southern Scapegoat Somebody lower-on-the-totem pole game. Will he pay for it? Hard to say.

Conventional wisdom says Gov. Sonny Perdue is a shoo-in for re-election. Big business loves him. He has avoided making any daring decisions or creating any innovative initiatives. He has shied so clear of controversy that it's hard to see how he will be beaten. Still, one gets the sense that parts of rural Georgia, which gave him victory four years ago, are a little fed up. He's too cozy with corporate Atlanta. The anticipated Kia auto factory notwithstanding, too many good-paying jobs have moved out of non-metro Georgia. At the same time, the voter-rich ring around Atlanta also may have had enough of Bubba. Wearing circus ringmaster costumes and castrating dogs, even for a good cause, haven't solved many suburban problems. Don't be shocked if a Democratic candidate upsets the conventional-wisdom applecart (Bill Shipp at Gwinnett Daily Post).

Good ol' Sonny "never met a gimmick I wouldn't try once, or twice if no one notices the first time" Perdue.

By the way, I'm officially nominating Dan McLagan for ambassador to Oman. That guy's got a silver tongue with spikes a foot long. I've got to give it to him - he's a Cosby special waiting to happen: "Small-time spokesman says the darndest things."

And he's got his finger on the pulse of the most pressing issues facing Georgia today: Perdue Spokesman Crusades Against Drinking Problem At Cato Institute (if you don't click any other link today, do yourself a favor and click this one. You can thank me later.)