And so it begins ...

click to enlarge Stacey Campfield

As has been widely reported, the Republicans now hold a "super-majority" in the Tennessee General Assembly, meaning Democrats don't have enough numbers to slow even the wackiest bills from the GOP's lunatic fringe.

For example, this little gem proposed by Stacey Campfield (Loon-Knoxville). State Bill 0132 "requires the reduction of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) payments for parents or caretakers of TANF recipients whose children fail to maintain satisfactory progress in school."

In other words, if you're getting welfare payments and your first-grader flunks Crayola 101, those payments will diminish or end. If you don't have money to feed your kids, well, that'll show the little bastards, won't it?

Campfield is famous for his racism, homophobia, and general idiocy, as well such advances in education as the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

If we thought Tennessee's legislature was the country's laughing stock last year, just wait. I'm afraid we ain't seen nothin' yet.