• Internet sensation Patricia Pencil (or something) also hates sunscreen.

A Cobb County woman has a warning after trying to protect her skin cost her an electronic book reader.

Jodi Brookfield said the chemicals in her spray sunscreen damaged her Nook e-reader.
She said she used the spray on her vacation but later realized it ate away at the device, right where she picked it up.

NOT THE NOOK. Let cancer eat away my flesh, but DEAR GOD, spare the Nook. Could this mean we have to start reading actual books and magazines at the pool? Let me just saddle up my dinosaur while I'm at it.

Seriously, though. If sunscreen can eat away the plastic on the back of an electronic device, what can it do to your skin? Tune in later to find out how unsafe you are no thanks to the things that are trying to save you ...

Watch Channel 2 Action News at 4 to find out what experts also had to say about the effects of sunscreen on skin.

• WIKIMEDIA
• Golda Cry-ir's more like it.

Anyway, until I can figure out the radio without getting so flustrated I just burst into tears, I have to rely on my male coworkers to keep me abreast. Apparently, I missed a pretty appropriate conversation this morning on Q100's The Bert Show, during which lady co-hosts Kristin and Wendy agreed that a woman would make a piss-poor president because women are, by their very nature, emotional rather than logical. Also, women in the military shouldn't serve on the front lines alongside Kristin's brother because it would make her uncomfortable.

Reward them and have a listen!

Waaaaait a minute. Are they going so far as to say illogical things to prove that women are illogical? And are they intentionally upsetting women to prove that women are too emotional? WELL PLAYED, because my obvious reaction to hearing Kristin and Wendy's deep thoughts: pure rage and dysphoria. Which goes to show that — fuck — I'm too emotional. Too emotional to write for a newspaper, certainly. Back to the kitchen I go. Not to cook, just to lie there and sob. And, alright, while I'm down there, I'll do the floors. Whilst listening to this. Take it away, Whitney ...

• bookofmormonbroadway.com
• Look into his eyes and know fear

Let's cut to the chase with this jaw-dropping statement by state Rep. Judy Manning of Marietta:

“I think Mitt Romney is a nice man, but I’m afraid of his Mormon faith. It’s better than a Muslim. Of course, every time you look at the TV these days you find an ad on there telling us how normal they are. So why do they have to put ads on the TV just to convince us that they’re normal if they are normal? … If the Mormon faith adhered to a past philosophy of pluralism, multi-wives, that doesn’t follow the Christian faith of one man and one woman, and that concerns me.”

Plus, if you try to say "Normal Mormon" five times fast, it's very difficult. You just can't do it. Shouldn't that tell you something?

Funny thing is, when I worked at the MDJ, Manning seemed like one of the most moderate and level-headed of Cobb's many loopy pols. I was a little surprised when she, like many Republicans with seniority — Manning is now a seven-term veteran — was passed over for a leadership position when her party took control of the House. But then I never had occasion to probe her views on religious tolerance.

So, if not the Mormon infidel, who does she think should be president? Why, Gingrich, of course:

“He doesn’t walk on water, and he’s made some mistakes, and there are things about probably each one of the candidates that I’d say are not perfect. Nobody is. But when you look at the candidates all lined up, and the pros and the cons, I personally think Newt is the man that will lead us into the brightest future of the United States of America for everybody.”

Um, yeah.

And how do the MDJ's mostly conservative readers feel about Manning's remarks? Here's a sampling:

"Judy Manning's comments concerning Mitt Romney's faith demonstrate that she is unfit to hold office herself. What she doesn't seem to understand is that we are a secular nation, that we believe in freedom of conscience, and no matter what faith a person holds, as long as that person swears allegiance to support, defend and preserve the Constitution first, that is what matters. I am definitely not a Romney supporter, but to inject his religion into the debate, especially when he hasn't made it an issue, is despicable. Perhaps Manning should take some time and read the Constitution and case law, and read up on the history of this country."

And my fave:

"Judy Manning needs a better PR person. This article makes her look totally ignorant. Maybe she is."

HAPPY NEW YEAR, ATLANTA.

2011 pictures

According to a story in today's Marietta Daily Journal, a member of the city school board balked at news that all students would be tested for physical fitness after Christmas, in compliance with the Georgia Student Health and Physical Education Act passed by state lawmakers in 2009.

Board Member Randy Weiner complained that fat kids don't need to be called out:

“It seems like it’s a way to rub parents’ noses in the fact that their child is overweight, out of shape and what have you. If they’re good parents, they already know it, so it doesn’t seem very useful. It’s a way for the state to collect data, that’s why this is mandated.”

Weiner went on to say the program seems an unnecessary intrusion by government into people's lives.

Hmm. I don't know if Weiner's a Republican, but since he's a Marietta politician, chances are good that he is. Does he not remember the President's Council on Physical Fitness during the '80s, when then-Pres. Reagan mandated that every boy and girl in America would be embarrassed in gym class by being scored in running, pull-ups and other humiliations? If this program was good enough for the Gipper, it should be good enough for some freakin' small-town school board member. That's all I'm sayin'.