Thinking Right's weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:

> Nobody will let me have my first choice as vice president on the John McCain ticket. That'd be former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Or, probably, my second, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. His is a small state certain to vote Republican anyway. But I'll settle for third: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a conservative who was sworn in and promptly called a special session to enact ethics legislation. Like Barack Obama, he's too unseasoned to be president just now, but he'd season as VP.

> Little-noticed changes that matter a great deal build the Sonny Perdue legacy. A prime example is the Georgia Technology Authority's plan to contract with private-sector vendors to operate computer systems for 11 agencies. About 500 state workers will move to the private sector and about 200 jobs will be eliminated. Technology changes too quickly for government procurement. And, too, why hire the excess help needed for emergencies when the private sector can provide three or 300 when needed? Great move.

> Don't retire the odd-even watering police just yet. China deals with its Olympics-related traffic problems by ordering odd-even driving days. Why add road capacity when you can simply order drivers off the road?

> When a public official, tasked with responsibility to reduce payroll by 2.5 percent, announces that 53 police and 27 fire vacancies won't be filled, as Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin did, you gotta believe it's a game. To be cut, too, are 20 public defender jobs and 13 in the solicitor's office. When I'm asked to cut my budget by 2.5 percent, I propose not paying the water bill, the gas bill and parking the car I drive to work.

> A nation cannot be safe from terrorism if its people think asking them a security-related question is an outrage, or worse, a reason to sue. This is what passes for a major revelation in today's politically correct, touchy-feely world: From The Associated Press, this first paragraph: "The Justice Department's former top criminal prosecutor says the government's terror watch list has caused thousands of innocent Americans to be questioned, searched or otherwise hassled." Goodness gracious. Can this nation survive in a world where people really are trying to kill us?

> We really are becoming a nation where the elite in academia and the media are guerrillas determined to destroy corporations they don't like —- tobacco, insurance, "predatory" lenders and oil, for example. An example is a report from Harvard researchers purporting to show that tobacco companies have "manipulated" menthol levels in cigarettes to keep customers. Imagine the crime of that. Any chance that manufacturers in any other industries might have "manipulated" other products —- say coffee or other beverages or the accessories in automobiles —- to keep customers? In this country we criminalize and demonize what we don't like and employ unexamined buzzwords, like "smart-growth," for things we do.

> The state gets a single bid —- about $3 million less than it paid —- for a six-acre tract near Atlantic Station. What to do? Wait for full value. No commission required for this wealth-building advice.

> Atlanta lawyer Randy Evans, friend and counselor to Newt Gingrich and a number of other high-profile political figures, is a class act. When the former Bush administration press secretary died, Evans created the Tony Snow Family Trust at the Wachovia bank in Bowie, Md., to help cover education and other expenses for Tony and Jill Snow's three children. Donations can be made to: Center for Health Transformation, Attn: Tony Snow Family Trust, 1425 K Street N.W., Washington, DC 20005. At his death, Snow was working through the center on a cancer project with former Democratic VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro.

> Blaming Southern foods and "metro Atlanta's car-crazy culture" for obesity is the same as blaming guns for crime. The CDC finds the South to be the nation's fattest region. People make choices. They are responsible. Not the fried chicken, gravy, fried pies or biscuits. How long will it be before some do-gooder suggests shutting down all-you-can-eat buffets?

> Jim Wooten is associate editorial page editor. His column appears Friday, Sunday and Tuesday.

jwooten@ajc.com

Blog with Jim Wooten six days a week at ajc.com/opinion