Clemens volunteered to testify before the House Government Reform Committee. and he chose to lie, actions that were incredibly stupid on his part. I get that no one forced him to come forward, but it’s laughable for Clemens to be indicted for lying to and “obstructing” a parliament of whores, to quote P.J. O’Rourke.

This hearing was nothing more than a charade. If Congress wants to protect kids from picking up dangerous habits, encourage parents to get more involved. Kids should also be warned of the dangers of taking PEDs when they are in high school and college, but this should be a responsibility of local school systems, not Congress.

While I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to baseball, I don’t believe Congress has any business monitoring how Major League Baseball (or any other sport) conducts its operations. Much like the 1994 labor strike caused attendance to drop, a view that certain players are cheating to get ahead will be, and probably has already been, met with similar results.

Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire and other players named in the Mitchell Report will be punished for cheating. Their legacies will be tainted and sportswriters will ensure that they either wait for enshrinement in Cooperstown or deny it entirely.

Just months ago, Georgia's Rep. Jim Marshall faced only faint headwinds as he sailed toward the midterm elections.

The former Macon mayor—and one of Congress's most conservative Democrats—had plenty of cash and no significant Republican opponent.

But in a reflection of his party's fortunes nationwide, Mr. Marshall's prospects have dimmed of late. The three-term congressman now faces an energized foe and the focus of the national Republican Party in a race that polls indicate is increasingly tight.

His change in fortunes is part of a larger trend in which eroding support for Democrats is roiling dozens of House races and boosting Republican confidence that the GOP will retake the House in November.
[...]
The Cook Political Report, a newsletter that tracks congressional races, now lists 68 Democratic House seats as being at "substantial risk," up from 62 in July and 58 in June, and the group plans to raise the figure to more than 70 this week. Other pollsters and analysts have also increased their list of Democrats they now consider imperiled. By comparison, less than 10 Republican-held seats are thought to be in jeopardy.

“If Roy Barnes doesn’t win it in November, you can probably stick a fork in the Democratic movement, because we will not be able to come back for a generation or more,” Powell said in a phone conversation today.

If Barnes loses, Powell said he would “seriously consider” switching parties because Democrats would not only have no influence, but no hope regaining power. He also said he thinks he could halt the Republicans' drift to the right and bring it back toward the middle.
[...]
Barnes has a good shot at winning, Powell said, but he ought to be talking about the economy and the state budget more. The legislature has cut spending from more than $20 billion to less than $17 billion in the past two years, in addition to filling gaps with bond debt and federal stimulus money. Powell predicted an additional $2 billion to $3 billion hole next year.

Barnes is “going to have to branch out,” Powell said. “He can’t just talk about education.”

*sigh*

AAA Auto Club South reported the average price per gallon of gasoline in Georgia is $2.52, compared with $2.57 last week, $2.61 last monthy and $2.45 a year ago.

The national average price of unleaded regular gasoline is $2.67 per gallon -- 4 cents less than last week.
[...]
Even with the boost in investor confidence, the current condition of the economy and continued growth of U.S. stockpiles of crude oil do not support crude oil trading above $75 a barrel," said Jessica Brady, AAA spokeswoman. "Although consumers will see a slight increase in retail gasoline prices this week, it's very possible prices will dip again next week."

One of the most contentious issues in the vast literature about alcohol consumption has been the consistent finding that those who don't drink actually tend to die sooner than those who do. The standard Alcoholics Anonymous explanation for this finding is that many of those who show up as abstainers in such research are actually former hard-core drunks who had already incurred health problems associated with drinking.

But a new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that — for reasons that aren't entirely clear — abstaining from alcohol does actually tend to increase one's risk of dying even when you exclude former drinkers. The most shocking part? Abstainers' mortality rates are higher than those of heavy drinkers.

There are stories and documentaries that will air all day today. I encourage you to watch them and remember the victims of this storm.

You can listen to it here (fair warning, it runs well over an hour).

I was also quoted in this article from PolitiFact Georgia discussing Rep. Paul Broun's vote on a controversial piece of legislation.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, in an address Wednesday to a special commission on Georgia tax reform, called on the state and Gov. Sonny Perdue to reduce the public workforce in order to redirect money toward education.

Reed asked Perdue’s Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians, to recommend reducing the size of state government by 10-15 percent over the next 36 months, and provide extensive job training for displaced workers.

“The new governor and leaders need to work through expediting that path,” Reed said, adding that in Atlanta, the city employee bases has gone from 9,654 in 2008 to 7,500 now, a reduction of about 25 percent. “And we haven’t gone far enough.”

Though I disagree with Reed on education funding, I think that's a matter of efficiency rather than funding, who would have though that Kasim Reed would be to the right of Sonny Perdue on government jobs?