MIRABEAU B. LAMAR: Dubose drew a crooked line

Mirabeau has heard good things about the NAACP's Ed Dubose but he lost Mirabeau at Tuesday's meeting of Columbus Council. Dubose spoke out against the city's proposed sales tax. That's certainly his right. What puzzled Mirabeau was the line he drew between the killing of Kenneth Walker and the penny tax. If Dubose thought he was going in a straight line, he wasn't.

Mirabeau wonders which Muscogee County legislators Sen. Eric Johnson of Savannah might have had in mind when he wrote this in his highly entertaining blog: “We are part time citizen legislators. We have families and jobs. We have various levels of life experience and intellects. We have a limited attention span and energy. Some prefer a steak dinner to staking out a position. Some members are brilliant and spellbinding. Some are boring and wise. Some legislate. Some pontificate. But the staff — temporary and permanent — do the legwork and research. They guide the bills. They take care of constituents. They gently manage their legislator and keep them from bumping into walls.”

Mirabeau bought a small appliance here in town the other day. The instructions looked long and foreboding. Then he noticed one side of the sheet was in English and one was in Spanish. If Mirabeau wanted instructions in Spanish he would have bought the gadget in Mexico

Mirabeau wonders what’s going on in Atlanta. Legislators have us feuding with Tennessee over the state line and fighting with Auburn graduates over vanity license plates. Pretty soon there will be gunboats in the Chattahoochee River, protecting us from an invasion from the west. I say we take Eufaula before Alabama invades West Point.

Mirabeau’s weekend was a disaster. He went to sleep watching TV Saturday night. When he woke up the television was still on and Mirabeau couldn’t decide if it was The Bill Purvis Show or Saturday Night Live.

Mirabeau wasn’t invited but someone allegedly important showed him an invitation to a shindig Gov. Sonny Perdue is holding this week for Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain and his Trophy Wife. Three Republican Congressmen are co-hosts. Our own Lynn Westmoreland is not.

Mirabeau still gets confused. Is it Lake Eufaula or Lake Walter F. George?

Mirabeau takes exception to a caption in Saturday’s Ledger-Enquirer. The photo was of George W. Bush and the Prime Minister of Denmark with their wives at the Texas White House. The prime minister’s name meant nothing to Mirabeau and probably wouldn’t ring a bell with you either. What irked Mirabeau was a nameless copy editor who said Bush showed the Danish leader southern hospitality. I take exception, suh. Texas ain’t the south. To show you how un-southern they are, Texans think barbecue is beef.

Thank the Lord, Mirabeau doesn't have to attend those hearings the city is having on the proposed sales tax for public safety. Officials best be careful that some city employee doesn't sue for requiring them to attend. Any jury would rule that having to sit through those sessions is cruel and inhumane.