It's that time of year...

...when Republican state legislators get down to the business of being as intolerant as possible.

Tennessee has no income tax. To paraphrase some Tennesseans I've heard discuss the subject: "Poor people don't pay no income taxes anyways, so why should we punish people who work hard?" Well, the actual consequence of no income tax is that the state is heavily dependent on sales tax revenue, so now that the economy blows, Tennessee is facing a $1 billion FY2009 budget shortfall. Stupid poor people.

You would think state lawmakers would be solely focused on resolving the impending financial doom. Instead, they are trying to prevent "unmarried couples" - i.e. those wily, contagious gays - from adopting neglected children desperately in need of loving homes. I guess sometimes you have to take the moral high ground, even if that means that the pool of available adoptive parents will shrink considerably, leaving more children in foster care...WHICH WILL FURTHER DRAIN STATE RESOURCES.

State Republicans are also working on such pressing issues as allowing permit holders to carry guns into state parks, constitutionally restricting abortion rights, and making life more difficult for Hispanic immigrants, illegal or not. I understand that this is the red meat their constituents yearn to feast upon, but even the most hardcore religious conservative will be furious if this nonsense results in his kids attending underfunded schools and his garbage festering on the tree lawn due to cut services.

~Slim