I'm spending the afternoon at what has recently become my home-away-from-home, the N.C. General Assembly. Setting up housekeeping in one of the tiny booths of the Telephone Center here was never my intention, but when I shut that little door behind me, I'm safe from much of Teh Crazy that's been going on here for the past three months.
You've probably heard of Teh Crazy. Since January's swearing-in of our new Republican and Tea party legislators, we've been besieged with more than 600 bills so full of nuttiness that they make Pearson's Nut Goodies seem like a safer airline and classroom snack. A resolution to establish a state religion. A bill requiring elementary students to learn cursive writing. A two-year "waiting period," replete with mandatory counseling and mediation, to discourage divorce (and encourage what?). Permitting people to bring loaded weapons to church and to restaurants that serve alcohol. Eliminating oversight of publicly funded charter schools. Reneging on land deals that took decades of study and negotiation to create. Rezoning school board districts without even a census as a foundation, requiring some elected school board members to re-campaign halfway through their terms and allowing other members (guess which party?) to serve for six additional years without an election. Telling the Public Staff of the N.C. Utilities Commission that they cannot address issues of the public. Removing the state geologist from a task force on fracking. A significant tax penalty for parents of dependent college/university students who prefer to vote where they attend school rather than from their parents' addresses.
Yeah. It's been like that and I don't drink, so I'm hiding out in this telephone booth ensconced in the heart of the General Assembly building to catch you up a bit. Take a big squiggly orange breath and follow me through the rabbit hole.