Best Argument Against Direct Democracy...

Via Ben Smith:

An amendment aimed at putting the bill to referendum failed amid a debate in which one legislator said that Pontius Pilate had put Christ's fate to a referendum.

Amtrack Joe Says No To Public Transportation

Sen. Joe Biden spoke to Matt Lauer this morning and said that he'd tell his family members to "avoid confined spaces" such as aircraft or the subway, all because of a flu virus that has infected about .000001% of the US population.

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While it actually might be good medical advice to avoid confined spaces with other people at all time, I don't think living like a hermit is good advice for the long term. If you are going to stop taking public transportation because of this particular strain of flu virus, why not stop taking it because of the risk of other flu viruses? After all, the plain Jane variety kills far more people than this Swine flu probably will.

Democrats Divided On Gay Bashing Being Hate Crime

It appears that only 2 of the 9 Tennessee Representatives feel that people who assault or kill gays or lesbians because of their sexuality should be given an additional punishment.

Reps. Cohen and Cooper voted in favor of the just now passed hate crimes legislation.

Reps. Davis, Tanner, and Gordon, along with the usual GOP riff-raff, voted Nay.

From Congressman Cohen:

I was proud to vote in favor of the hate crimes legislation this afternoon. This important, bipartisan bill focuses on providing new resources to help state and local law enforcement agencies prevent and prosecute hate crimes, and closes the gaps in current federal hate crimes laws.

For more than four decades, Americans have had protections from hate crimes through a federal hate crimes statute. This bill is focused on giving state and local law enforcement the tools and resources they need to prevent and prosecute hate crimes. Furthermore, H.R. 1913 also extends protections to more Americans. The current federal hate crimes law authorizes federal aid in cases of hate crimes committed because of a person’s race, color, religion, or national origin. This bill closes gaps in federal law to also help combat hate crimes committed because of a person’s gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

Gay Cooties Sweeping The Nation

One more state is looking ever closer to advancing the cause of marriage equality, the New Hampshire Senate just passed a gay marriage bill by a 13-11 margin.

The Democratic controlled New Hampshire Senate passed an amended version of the controversial measure to legalize gay marriage today. The vote was 13-11 in favor of the measure.

The House passed a similar measure last month by a 186-179 vote. The two chambers must reconcile small changes between the two measures in a conference committee but this is seen as a technicality. Democratic Gov. John Lynch must decide whether he will sign or veto the bill or allow it to become law without his signature. Lynch has been silent on the matter, though he has stated in the past that he opposes same-sex marriage.

In order to pass the bill, they had to amend it to say that churches wouldn't be forced to conduct gay marriages...which is a pointless amendment, given no church can be forced to marry anyone (see: Catholics and divorce).

In order big gay news, the anti-gay forces think they've found their spokesperson for the youngin's because some hot chick in California isn't big on man-on-man marriage. Riggghhttt....who honestly even watches the Miss America pageant anyways, and of those, who cares what they have to say?

House Passed Budget

The US House has passed the budget that came out of conference. All Tennessee Dems voted for it, all Tennessee Republicans voted against.

Polling the Gov Race

Knoxviews has an online poll which asks which candidate for the Democratic primary would you vote for? Currently in the lead is Ward Cammack.

Tennessee State Employees Have New Fearless Leader

Via TSEA presser:

On Friday, April 24, 2009, a vote of confidence from the Tennessee State Employees Association Board of Directors unveiled Philip Morson as the President for the remainder of the term left vacant by former Association member Zoyle Jones. Morson has served TSEA faithfully through joyous times and turbulent weather and is ready to lead the Association on to a bright future.

Morson joined TSEA’s Southwest chapter more than 17 years ago and was serving as West Tennessee Vice-President. He steps up at a critical time for the Association and believes in the mission of TSEA. “I am very proud to be associated with this highly recognized national association, and I intend to stand in the way of those who have tried to use TSEA as their own tool to further their private agenda.” said Morson.

Freedom On The March

It appears that the wheels of social justice keep on turnin':

Forty-two percent of Americans now say same sex couples should be allowed to legally marry, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds. That's up nine points from last month, when 33 percent supported legalizing same sex marriage.

Support for same sex marriage is now at its highest point since CBS News starting asking about it in 2004.

Twenty-eight percent say same sex couples should have no legal recognition - down from 35 percent in March - while 25 percent support civil unions, but not marriage, for gay couples.

What is equally crucial as the 42%, is the 25% who would seem at least open to the idea of full equality. Once people stop and think about it, understand the difference between a civil marriage license and a religious marriage ceremony, I'd think you could whittle down that 25% number and get supporters of full equality above 50%.

Cohen Here To Stay

You have to wonder when black politicians in Memphis are going to realize that Cohen is as popular (if not more so) as any black Representative is going to be in that district? Via WMCTV:

In a race between Congressman Steve Cohen and Mayor Willie Herenton, who would you vote for for Congress?

1. Steve Cohen - 65%
2. Herenton - 14%
3. Undecided - 20%

* Among likely Democratic primary voters, Congressman Cohen’s job approval grade is 84% vs. 42% for Mayor Herenton.
* About 56% of all Democratic primary voters think it is a bad idea for the Mayor to run against Congressman Cohen.
* Congressman Cohen’s support among African-American’s is 50% vs. 22% for Mayor Herenton and the Mayor has only 4% support among white voters.
* Of those who said they voted for Mayor Herenton in the October 2007 elections for Memphis Mayor (N=64), 50% said they would vote for Congressman Cohen rather than for Mayor Herenton for congress.
* Finally, every demographic group, regardless of age, race, gender, income and geographical area favored Congressman Cohen over Mayor Herenton for 9th District Congress.

Lyin' Lila

Aunt B is somewhat apoplectic about a college student who banks her frequent flier miles going around the country to attempt to bust Planned Parenthoods for failing to report illegal sexual activity between minors and adults:

Every day in this country women are actually raped and real rape victims have to listen to rape apologists talk about how you need to really be sure you’ve been raped or you might ruin some man’s life and make it harder for “real” rape victims to get the help they need. Every day, women have to hear about the evils of falsely accusing someone of rape.

And yet, here is this woman whose whole act is lying about being raped and everyone in my state is sitting around talking about what a hero she is for supposedly uncovering a supposed Planned Parenthood worker who didn’t actually do anything against the law.

Now, I'm more than willing to agree that this Lila chick probably has a screw loose...most vehement pro-lifers do. But at the same time, I think there is a difference between pretending to be a 14 year old girl with a 31 year old boyfriend, and pretending that consensual sex is rape. For one thing, it would be extremely easy to prove statutory rape if Lila's story were true, because all you'd have to do is check their birth records, do a blood test on the li'l miracle in her belly, and blam, you've got a conviction, simply because she's not of legal age to consent, even if she said yes, yes, oh God, yes.

As for the notion of a person going undercover and lying about who they are to test employees of an company...having worked for Planet Hollywood back in the day, we were fairly used to them, they are called secret shoppers. Generally, if we could deduce who these people were ahead of time we tried to give them the best service possible, if we were caught unawares, well, then maybe the report was not so good.

Ultimately, I don't see the big deal in all of this. The only thing that Lila showed was that an employee of Planned Parenthood knowingly violated both PP policy and possibly the law. She acknowledged that she should go to her superior, but decided against it and asked the girl not to tell. She fucked up. Maybe she had good intentions, and I don't feel ill will towards the woman, but she fucked up nonetheless and an admonishment, suspension, or firing should rectify the situation in my book.

(h/t ACK)

The Audacity of Specter

For a fleeting moment I looked at news of Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic party with a sense of glee. Then, I read his statement. This wasn't a crisis of conscience about where the Republican party has gone in recent years, or a realization of his belonging in the Democratic party, but rather a cold and calculated decision based on polls that he'd have a better shot in the Dem primary than in the GOP primary.

Since then, I have traveled the State, talked to Republican leaders and office-holders and my supporters and I have carefully examined public opinion. It has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable. On this state of the record, I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate. I have not represented the Republican Party. I have represented the people of Pennsylvania.

I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary.

He then goes on to say he won't vote party line, and won't vote with the Dems on all cloture motions, including the Employee Free Choice Act.

Basically, the crux of his statement is that political parties suck, but he doesn't have time to create his own party structure, so he'll run with the Dems because he's so gosh darned good for the state of Pennsylvania that he can't possibly deny them his presence in the Senate.

Personally, I'm hoping that a Democrat like Patrick Murphy runs and wins the Pennsylvania Democratic primary. Unless Specter is willing to allow the majority of Senators to discuss, debate, and vote on important legislation, what good is his switch in the long run?

Update:

Kos points out how bizarre it is that Specter won't allow the Employee Free Choice Act up for a vote, given his new status in the labor-heavy Democratic party, and given his previous support for the measure. If he thinks Republicans in the Pennsylvania GOP were miffed at his support for the Stimulus package, does he think the strong labor element on the Pennsylvania Democratic party, which has likely worked hard against him in the past, is just going to roll over and play dead because he has a shiny new D next to his name?

Panic or Pandemic?

It seems the world is in a tizzy because a flu strain attributed to an animal is making its rounds across the globe. I don't mean to say that the "Swine Flu" isn't serious, and that those who deaths attributed to it aren't tragic, but people, get a freakin' grip already. It seems like the surest way for a disease to cause a global press and political frenzy is to attach an animal species to it. Whether the Avian flu or Swine flu, the fact remains that far, far, far more people die each year from common influenza strains than they do from the boutique variety.

So before the Federal Government decides to stimulate the medical supply industry by purchasing surgical masks to be handed out to the general public, its time to take a deep breath of reality and put this "pandemic" in its rightful place. Caution yes, but panic is most certainly not warranted.

And Then There Were 4 (or 5, or 6, lost track...)

State Sen. Andy Berke, the young progressive hip-hop aficionado from Chattanooga, is apparently making it clear that he's gonna call the Tennessee State Senate his home for a bit longer. Via ACK:

Ken Whitehouse reports that the twittering darling of the progressive blogosphere will not be making a run for governor. The netroots will have to find another champion.

Those who are running for the Democratic nomination include Kim McMillan, Ward Cammack, Roy Herron, and Mike McWherter.

Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Ken Lewis Has To Go

The SEIU is going to hold another protest against Bank of America, this time requesting that CEO Ken Lewis be fired.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 29th
12:00-1 pm

WHERE: Bank of America, Church St. branch
1634 Church Street in Midtown (37203)

WHO: Taxpayers, Change That Works, & SEIU

Catching Up

I've been out of town since Tuesday without internet access, so I seem to have missed a bunch of stuff. Here is the rundown.

Bredesen and the TNDP sing kumbaya, with some caveats.

Roy Herron resigns as the Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus in order to focus on his gubernatorial bid.

TNDP announces schedule for their summit this weekend, and is also pushing back its Jackson Day dinner to later in the year.

Ned McWherter's son Mike is jumping into the Governor's race on a platform of "jobs, investing in education to build a strong economy, and government that continues to be fiscally responsible."

Mayor Karl Dean gave his State of Metro address where he outlined plans to green the metro fleet, upgrade buildings, and introduce a capitol spending plan that "will include projects for each of his priorities – education public safety and economic development, including classroom renovations at elementary schools to remove the use of 40 portable buildings, planning for the addition of two new police precincts, and planning for the construction of the 28th Avenue Connector."

Democrats Bank More Than Republicans

In a bit of a turnaround, the Tennessee Democrats seem in a much better fiscal position than the Tennessee Republicans.

According to the latest FEC reports, the TNDP had over $76K in their account at the end of March, compared to about $3K for the TNGOP. Nearly all of the funds raised by the TNGOP were "unitimized contributions" ($31K worth) or transfers from other committees, whereas the TNDP accounted for most of their cash, raising a little over $43K in various large dollar donations.

Al Qaeda and the Teabaggers Unite in Opposition

Al-Qaeda's #2 concurs with the teabaggers that President Obama is not bringing the change we need.

Family Matters

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ward Cammack explains the joys and difficulties of a family merger:

Lifestyles of the Upper-Middle Class

The Wall Street Journal took it upon themselves to profile the pain and suffering of that oppressed minority of people making over $250K:

For the Parnells, their perception of themselves is based on the math. The value of their house is down $60,000. Ms. Parnell says the couple's gross income last year was about $260,000. Taxes, premiums for medical care and deductions for Social Security and their 401(k) contributions cut the gross to about $12,000 per month. The family tithes $1,300 a month at their church. Their mortgage, second mortgage and payment on land they bought is nearly $4,000 a month. Other expenses, including their family car payment, insurance and college funds, as well as basics like food, utilities and donations to charities, leave them with about $1,200 left over each month.

"I'm not after sympathy. We are blessed. What I want is a reality check on what rich means," Ms. Parnell says. "I can pay my mortgage and I can buy some clothes. I'm not going without, but I'm not living a life of luxury."

OK, so, after pretty much ALL of their expenses, taxes, bills, savings, etc...they are left with a measly $1,200 a month, or, about the amount of many the average person makes on unemployment insurance (before all those bills).

Now, we can argue the plight of the quarter-million a year earners all we like, but when talking about the tax code, saying someone took home $250K is a useless number. The Parnells' taxes will still go down under President Obama, because their "taxable income" is still below $250,000. Their charitable contributions alone drop them below the $250K earning limit, add in the mortgage deduction, 401K savings, and other tax credits or deductions I'm sure they qualify for, and you're probably looking at a taxable income well below $200K.

BUT, even IF their taxable income was $260,000, the only portion of that which would see a tax increase is the last $10,000...ultimately, even if all of the proposed tax increases on the 250K+ lot that Obama has talked about over the past 2 years was passed, they'd likely see their tax liabilities increase by about $1,500 at the most, or about 10% of that disposable income they have left over after all of their expenses.

(h/t Knoxviews)

On Dictators and Demagogues

It appears the Newt Gingrich, the self-appointed new spokesman for the Republican party, is dis-heartened by the President's "legitimizing" of Hugo Chavez:

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Of course, what he and other Conservatives (and many liberals too) fail to note is that Hugo Chavez is the democratically elected leader of Venezuela. Obama shaking his hand doesn't change that fact, there should be no question of his legitimacy as the President of that country. Now, we may not like the choice of the Venezuelan people and would prefer someone else, but just ignoring him doesn't change the fact that he exists and is the head of that state.

Refusing to shake someone's hand does not connote "strength" to the world. Refusing to deal with Cuba is not a sign of power, its a sign of arrogance and intransigence. I'm glad that President Obama is making some steps towards showing the world that we are willing to deal with reality on the terms that reality dictates, rather than living in some idealistic version of the world where we get to pick and choose who is or is not a "legitimate" leader.

Department of Empty Gestures

You have to wonder, does President Obama really think asking his entire cabinet to find a combined $100 million in budget cuts is going to make any progress in terms of budgetary reform, or is he just having a bit of fun with the teabaggers?

President Obama plans to convene his Cabinet for the first time today, where he will order members to identify a combined $100 million in budget cuts over the next 90 days, according to a senior administration official.

Not that it isn't a good thing, I suppose, to have department heads trim some of the fat...but ultimately, budget reforms are going to require massive policy shifts, both in this seeming acceptance of the idea that we can or should keep cutting taxes (even for the Middle Class) and in cutting or eliminating some major federal programs.

The Teabaggers Will Be Disappointed

Adam Kleinheider penned an opinion piece in which he warns the Republican protesters that the politicians they eventually try to elect will ultimately disappoint them.

There is a difference between being anti-state and anti-Left. Anti-stateists believe that governments are essentially inefficient and encourage corruption. Their conservatism means to decentralize the power of the political elites — liberal and "conservative."

The professional conservative class is not anti-state. They want power. They want their hands on the levers of power in order to serve "conservative interests." But, in so doing, they leave in place government mechanisms that they oppose when controlled by their political opponents.

Doug Horne Passes On Gubernatorial Bid

The TNDP has announced that Doug Horne, real estate tycoon from East Tennessee, is passing on the opportunity to run for Governor.

TNDP Chair Chip Forrester said that he spoke to Horne about his decision this morning. "Doug Horne is a friend and I respect his decision to take his name out of consideration for Governor," Forrester said.

"I appreciate Doug for all he has done to support the Democratic Party over the years," Forrester continued.

From what I've heard from various politicos familiar with him, this is a pretty common occurrence. I'd also expect that anyone who hasn't begun looking into campaign staff and fundraising yet, probably is also not a serious contender for the position.

That leaves four fairly serious candidates: Kim McMillan, Andy Berke, Ward Cammack, and Roy Herron for the Democratic nomination.

Krumm and I Agree On One Thing

The teabaggers most certainly are a fringe group of extremists:

This was a movement that had already grown outside the mainstream of American politics.

The crux of Krumm's post is that the internet has revolutionized America and we no longer need the establishment. Examples of this include a youtube clip from a British television show that was watched by a lot of people on the internet, as well as covered extensively in various press outlets from NPR to CNN.

Barack Obama, who came to fame not because of youtube and the internet, but rather because of John Kerry picking him to be the keynote speaker for the Democratic Convention in 2004.

Finally, the Tea Parties. Krumm is still bitterly clinging to the notion that this was some organic movement completely devoid of "mainstream" or "establishment" influence all because some dick in one city who got the permit told the new black Chairman of the RNC that he wasn't welcome. Of course, all this makes perfect sense if you ignore that the "most watched Cable news network" relentlessly promoted the tax day events for nearly a month, combined with nearly ever right-of-center talk show host on the radio, including Rush Limbaugh with his 20 million listeners a week.

No, none of that is why the tax day protests managed to get a paltry 250K or so people around the country to take a long lunch and hold up ridiculously hyperbolic signs; rather, it was the internet. Granted, I'm sure many people logged into the Tea Party national websites in order to find the time and location of their local protest, but they probably went there because a massive corporate media conglomerate's on-air "talent" told them about it.

If you want to see some truly grass-roots, non-mainstream protests, just go to any city hosting the WTO or some other globalisation organization. The only time they get any ink or airtime is when they break some shit.

(h/t ACK)

Update:

Matt Hurtt is on to my clever ruse and realizes that my mockery and derision of the Patriotic Corps of Patriotic Patriots [some of whom also want to violently overthrow and/or secede from the Union] is just masking my fear that this movement is really gaining momentum.

Its simple, if Nashville bloggers stop posting about how magic is in the air and that April 15, 2009 will go down in the history books as the beginning of the end for the "establishment", I'll stop deriding their hyperbolic and idealistic efforts to misrepresent their power in the American political process.

Corporate Rights > Local Rule

Just a few weeks ago the Nashville Metro Council passed a bill that requires restaurants to post nutritional information for their products, and now Rep. Susan Lynn from Wilson County wants to use State law to block the will of the people in Nashville:

"I don't think it will be very useful," said State Rep. Susan Lynn. "My bill calls for restricting local governments from enacting menu labeling ordinances."

The state's restaurant association fought the idea in the past and said there would be too much cost involved.

"For drive-thru's, how do you fit all that information on a menu?" said Lynn.

Now, its one thing not to implement this on the state level, but if cities want to drive out restaurant business to the surrounding cities and counties (assuming this burden is so heavy they cannot continue to operate) then why is that of any concern to Rep. Lynn? That's more business for her district. No, this is just another case of allowing lobbyists to run your agenda, just like we saw with the recent furlough on action to update the state laws on wine in grocery stores to meet consumer demand.

TN AG Reaches Settlement With Price-Gougers

Attorney General Bob Cooper has reached a settlement with gasoline retailers over price-gouging during Hurricane Ike (pdf):

Attorney General Bob Cooper filed settlements today with 16 companies and individuals who own 27 gas stations in Middle and East Tennessee over llegations of price gouging in the wake of Hurricane Ike. Once signed by a judge, the settlements will result in $73,447 in potential restitution for consumers. ollectively, the settlements amount to the largest enforcement sweep under the State’s price gouging statutes in the State’s history. The Attorney General also iled suit against Knoxville-area retailer, Weigel Stores, Inc., for alleged unlawful price increases under the Tennessee Price Gouging Act of 2002 and the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act at seven gas stations.

“In these trying economic times, consumers need their hard-earned dollars to stretch as far as possible. I want to make sure that consumers are treated fairly – specially at the pump,” said Bob Cooper. “Tennessee laws make a distinction between profits and profiteering. Under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, it is unlawful to unreasonably raise the price of an essential consumer good in response to a natural disaster, crime, or act of terrorism regardless of whether those events occurred in Tennessee or somewhere else.”

In response, Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Ward Cammack released this statement:

"Government should never allow unscrupulous businesses to take advantage of consumers during times of crisis. As governor, my administration will build on Governor Bredesen's vigilance in cracking down on such indefensible actions."

Tax Cuts Cost Too Much

William H. Hobbs with the TNGOP thinks that the "Making Work Pay" tax cut is too costly for America:

Perhaps the Tennessee Democrat chairman believes his fellow Tennesseans are short-sighted and selfish enough that they can be bribed to back Obama’s economic policies for a few dollars a week. The people who gathered at two dozen Tax Day Tea Parties across Tennessee yesterday are made of better stuff than that. They know that $13 a week comes at a horrendous cost that their children and their grandchildren should not be forced to bear.

I'm actually a bit heartened to see the Republicans finally realizing that tax cuts are not the solution to all of life's problems. I eagerly await his condemnation of the irresponsible Republicans in Congress who argued for a massive tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, along with an unnecessary elimination of the inheritance tax, was needed at this time of growing deficits.

(h/t ACK)

The Teabaggers are Restless

This morning I tuned into the local rightwing radio station to find out what the morning after all that teabagging looked like. Apparently, morning host Ralph Bristol has it in his mind that the rightwing radio shows are now newly empowered, and as such, had an idea to recruit Michael DelGiorno and Phil Valentine to participate in American Idol: Congressional Edition, where those three audition potential Republican candidates to challenge Democrats in Middle Tennessee. Putting aside his apparent lack of knowledge about how the political primary process works, I can only begin to imagine the type of candidate who meets the test of Michael "The End Is Nigh" DelGiorno and Phil "Round Up The Brown People" Valentine.

Elsewhere in la la land, many partisan Republican bloggers and commentators are bending over backwards to let us all know that the tea parties, which were promoted by Republican parties, Republican politicians, Republican bloggers, and Republican news networks...were not in fact Republican at all, in fact, partisanship had absolutely nothing to do with this Patriotic! display of Patriotic! Patriots! who love their country SOOOOO much, they are willing to take a long lunch break to hold up signs indicating the President is a Socialist, and listen to Republican speakers talk about what we need to do to get out of the mess they had nothing at all to do with.

Bob Krumm (former GOP candidate for State Senate) was but one of the many Republicans who, knowing how little the American people think of the Republican party these days, was taken aback at media claims that his was somehow a Republican gathering...after all, there might have been a few errant Democrats and Independents in the crowd. Bob also apparently lives by the axiom, "Organization in the Defense of Liberty is no Virtue!" According to Krumm, the poor planning on the part of organizers of the event indicates how successful it is, because a well planned, well executed protest would somehow diminish the non-partisan "conservative" credentials of these exercises in futility.

Matthew Hurtt meanwhile is hurt that more liberals didn't join them in their, "Obama is a socialist" parade, saying, "[t]his is not a fight against Democrats. This is a fight against intrusive federal policies and government borrowing and spending." Of course, this is counter-acted by the largely partisan (or at least, anti-Democrat) messages of many of the protesters and speakers, combined with the idea that this protest falls on tax day, and many of those protesting were doing so because they think taxes, which are lower than they've been in decades, are somehow "too high".

At the end of the day, the funniest thing about the teabaggers is not that they think they can effect change by taking a long lunch and standing in a crowd whilst holding a sign, but rather that they really do have delusions of grandeur about their role in history. There was one sign that said "this must be what it felt like in 1776," thus equating standing around in a scheduled one hour, constitutionally and police protected, protest with risking being on the business end of a rope to tell the King of England to go to hell.

There is nothing new about people complaining about taxes or deficits, the only thing new is that we now have a Democratic President, so even though tax rates overall are lower than they were under Bush, it now becomes a crisis of conscience to pay the Government, whereas before it was merely a nuisance. I'm glad Republicans, I mean, "conservatives" feel empowered by the number of angry white people who descended upon city halls and state capitols around the country to voice their anger at the Obama administration...I hope they are able to further grasp power away from the handful of moderates in the GOP who still have a say in the party.

See Also: Sarah Moore who is hot and bothered by the liberal arguments that these were protests against having a black President. I don't know that I've seen those arguments (though many in the crowd are birthers), but I agree with Sarah, this wasn't a racist movement, rather it was a partisan Republican one. She is also annoyed at the teabagging jokes...well, you guys chose to run around with tea bags as a sign of protest, even though it had absolutely nothing to do with the reasons the founding fathers dumped tea into the Boston harbor.

Obstructionists All

Just got off a conference call with TNDP Chair Chip Forrester who called those Republicans protesting "obstructionists" with no clear reasons or ideas for protesting. He thinks with the GOP throwing out terms like socialism and fascism, pretty soon they are going to run out of "isms" to hurl at the President. In addition, he praised the stimulus package's ability to create jobs, especially through road projects which open up rural communities to more commerce, and increase business for companies across the state.

Veteran Congressmen Support The Troops

It appears that three Congressmen, all veterans of the armed services, are angling to lead the charge to remove the disastrous Don't Ask, Don't Tell law from the books.

I went to war with people that, you know, statistics showed from outside groups, that we had a certain percentage that were gay. And you know how can you come home and say "you went to war for my country with me, but you don't deserve equal rights."

Of course, there are likely some in the officer corps who think so little of the enlisted soldiers that they don't feel they'd be able to adapt to an open military, but it appears these guys don't have such a disdain for their fellow soldiers.

Teabaggers Reject Socialism

Brian Kelsey (TB - Germantown) wants the State of Tennessee to reject "socialism" as a form of Government in the United States of America.

Mr. Kelsey condemned past efforts to socialize America and called for dissolving socialist institutions such as the Fire Department, Police Department, Public Schools, Municipal Sanitation, Municipal Utilities, the US Armed Forces, and all other such programs and entities within the Government which seek to sacrifice Capitalism at the alter of Socialism.

(h/t ACK)

Damn The Man!

Teabaggers are preemptively declaring victory for their "movement" to fight back against politicians who fulfill the promises they made on the campaign trail.

Likewise, I spoke to an organizer for the Knoxville tea party who said that no “professional politicians” were going to be allowed to speak, and he made a big point of saying that the protest wasn’t an anti-Obama protest, it was an anti-establishment protest. I’ve heard similar things from tea-party organizers in other cities, too. Though critics will probably try to write the tea parties off as partisan publicity stunts, they’re really a post-partisan expression of outrage.

Now, I understand how the li'l wepubwicans, oh, I'm sorry, not Republicans, but PATRIOTS! are getting excited at the prospect of tens of thousands of people across the country marching for (fill in the blank), but simply getting people out on a work day to stand and shout slogans for an hour does not a revolution make.

Take for instance, the Left. Damn, are they good at protesting...I mean, really good. In the run-up to the war, this grassroots movement of anti-war activists managed to rally millions of people around the world to protest the invasion of Iraq. In February of 2003, estimates of eight to thirty million people around the world came together to stop the invasion of Iraq, well over a million in the United States. Guess what happened? Oh, I won't spoil the surprise, just turn on the news.

In 2006, millions of people across the country marched to support immigration reform. Half a million in LA, 300K in Chicago, nearly ten thousand right here in Nashville. Guess what happened? Yeah, nada mucho.

Granted, these weren't solely "grassroots" movements spread by word of mouth, they had the help of Spanish speaking radio hosts and other groups...but guess what, so do the teabaggers. They've had Fox News devoting dozens of hours worth of valuable air-time towards getting people out to these protests, nearly every rightwing radio show host in the country is either attending or promoting events in their area, the national GOP, along with hundreds of other wackadoodle organizations are trying to get their members out in force.

What does it all mean? Squat. Yes, sorry to say, protests mean shit. There is a reason that I've never attended a protest (well, I did stumble into the immigration protest, but that was happenstance), because they are typically ways to make activists feel better about themselves and empowered when, realistically speaking, they don't have much. Now, that isn't to say some forms of protesting, such as boycotting or long drawn out protests can't work...but one hour, pre-scheduled marches or rallies ultimately are fruitless.

This protest is ultimately a chance for various rightwing causes and media personalities to get some face time with a like-minded public, pimp their products, sell a few cookie-cutter books, and in the end accomplish little to nothing. There isn't some ground-swell of a movement, there is an organized, concerted effort for Republicans in the minority to feel a little bit of empowerment, however fruitless and vapid it ultimately is.

Who's The Craziest Of Them All?

The Tea baggers had their pre-game party last night in Knoxville, as Republican Gubernatorial candidates flooded into Knoxville for the annual Lincoln Day celebration (which I'm sure Stacey Campfield boycotted out of his support for State's rights).

Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam broke with tea-bagger-in-chief Michael Steele who had previously said that the Government hasn't in the history of the world ever created a job:

"The next governor has to be good at managing budgets and has to be great at creating jobs, and reforming K through 12 education,” he said. “I think I can help there.”

Speaker of the Senate Ron Ramsey said that he'd take the weekends off when he becomes Governor, and Congressman Zach Wamp likened the Republican party to NASCAR, because they talk fast and in circles.

Teabag Day!

Tea baggers from all over the country are getting together today in order to question the validity of Obama's citizenship, ignore the the debt creation of the Reagan and Bush years, and claim injured status as they see their Hard Earned Money™ gets spent of frivolous projects like building roads and paying for the national defense.

If you'd like to teabag your local representatives, join Fox and Friends over at the Capitol today at noon. Be sure to bring your popcorn, they'll be sure to bring the crazy.

Reaching Out To the 18-34 Male Demo...

The Virginia GOP had a novel strategy.

In Case You Missed It...

The Tennessee Democratic Party has an updated website with social networking capabilities similar to Facebook. So if you'd like to keep up to date, or get to know Democrats in your area, be sure to sign up.

See R. Neal if you'd like to know more.

Harold Ford Jr. To Speak At Jackson Day

It appears as if one member of the Bone for Chair campaign is willing to back the head of the TNDP. Harold Ford Jr., the recently announced non-candidate for Governor, has agreed to headline the upcoming Jackson Day celebration/fundraiser in Franklin.

Governor Ford Will Have To Wait A While

Harold Ford Jr. finally announced the decision he made months ago; he ain't running.

After long thought, consultation and prayer with my wife, Emily, I've decided now is not the right time to re-enter elected politics. Therefore, I won't be a candidate for Governor this year.

I want to personally thank the many across our state and country who urged me to run for Governor. There will be another race and time to ask for your support.

Where Is Blackwater When You Need Them?

The situation this weekend involving Somali hijackers, and the subsequent hand-wringing by Conservatives over a lack of a declaration of War on Pirates and their mateys, got me thinking...isn't this the perfect place for a private mercenary group like Blackwater (now Xe)?

You've got private companies, in international waters, threatened by a non-Governmental band of criminals...that seems like a much better fit for a private mercenary group than, for instance, replacing uniformed soldiers in a military occupied territory.

Instead of having Uncle Sam pick up the tab for ensuring the safety of every American company in every part of the world, perhaps these shipping conglomerates ought to do what thousands of factories and malls across America do, and hire private security. Granted, theirs will be slightly better trained and better armed, but a similar principle applies.

Things You Don't Learn in Biology Class

Each person inherits a set of genes from his or her mother and father. Unfortunately, genes today contain many mistakes (because of sin and the Curse), and these mistakes show up in a variety of ways...

...When the first two people were created, they were perfect. Everything God made was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). That means their genes were perfect—no mistakes. But when sin entered the world because of Adam (Genesis 3:6), God cursed the world so that the perfect creation then began to degenerate, that is, suffer death and decay (Romans 8:22). Over a long period of time, this degeneration would have resulted in all sorts of mistakes occurring in the genetic material of living things.

So, basically, it was cool for brothers and sisters to inter-marry because their parents were awesome.

The Partisan Gap

On, hennypenny the sky is falling...Karl Rove, the intellectually honest and forthright contributor to the Wall Street Journal, is dismayed at President Obama's inability to attract the dead-enders to his cause:

The Pew Research Center reported last week that President Barack Obama "has the most polarized early job approval of any president" since surveys began tracking this 40 years ago. The gap between Mr. Obama's approval rating among Democrats (88%) and Republicans (27%) is 61 points. This "approval gap" is 10 points bigger than George W. Bush's at this point in his presidency, despite Mr. Bush winning a bitterly contested election.

Of course, the reason for this isn't Obama's tone or agenda so much as it is demographics. On the one hand, you've seen the number of those people who claim the Republican party as their home diminish over the past 8 years (thanks Dubya). On the other hand, when a Republican is in office, they are almost destined to have more support among Democrats because the party has a far bigger tent with many rural and conservative Democrats who are more inclined to be favorable towards Republican policies.

Ultimately though, the purpose of Obama's bi-partisan rhetoric isn't to attract supporters from a fringe element of American society who thinks Rush Limbaugh is a moderate and Katie Couric is a closet Marxist; rather, its to attract Independents who get all warm and gushy at the word "bi-partisan" even if they ultimately want a more progressive agenda than the Goopers will allow.

Cautious Radicalism

I just left a blogger meetup with Rep. Jim Cooper over at Fido. I just wanted to state from the get go that for those not invited, I had nothing to do with who was asked and my advice was not solicited, so direct your ire elsewhere...

As for the meeting, we covered a broad range of subjects from Health Care to 287(g) to the legalization of hemp. On the health care front, Southern Beale opened up the question of support for single-payer. Rep. Cooper is a primary sponsor of the Healthy Americans Act, which is touted as a bi-partisan solution to obtaining universal health care in this country. The program attempts to ween the nation off the employers based health care system in favor of private insurance held by individuals. According to Rep. Cooper, this plan will reduce the increase of health care expenditures nationally to less than 1% per year, which means 10 to 20 years down the road we'd begin to see a decrease in the amount of money spent on health care as a percentage of GDP (currently around 17%).

The primary concern among many liberals and progressives is the lack of a "public option" inside this health care plan which would setup (or expand an existing) national health care policy to compete with private health insurance. According to the Congressman, this would make the bill a partisan one, and also scare the public as it would be a new system not tried before. According to Rep. Cooper, he's designed or looked at over a dozen public options, but doesn't think now is the time to approach that issue, and we shouldn't sacrifice the good for the best. [You can see Rep. Cooper talking about his health care proposal at Vanderbilt at couple days ago, here (h/t SEIU)]

Another area of interest, especially to Mack of Coyote Chronicles, was that of the 287(g) program which grants the Davidson County Sheriff access to a federal immigration database to check legal status and potentially begin the process of deportation. According to Rep. Cooper, this was never intended to target non-violent misdemeanor offenders stopped for traffic violations, rather dangerous criminals such as members of MS-13. Of course, considering the majority of people processed through the jail system are there for non-violent offenses, it doesn't seem to me like a county level program would be the best solution to this problem, perhaps a state prison based system would be better at focusing on the more dangerous element.

Southern Beale brought up the problem of police officers intentionally targeted Hispanic-looking traffic offenders solely for the purpose of catching unauthorized aliens. Congressman Cooper's spokesman, John Spragens noted that Nashville is somewhat unique in having magistrates who determine whether an arrest and detention was warranted prior to a person being "booked," however, that check and balance may not be properly utilized at this time.

On some other unrelated issues, I wanted to get the Congressman's feel on some topics that weren't perhaps front-burners, but are long past due. On the topic of our relations with Cuba, Rep. Cooper said he is strongly in favor of revisiting a policy that has failed 11 Presidents now, and that he is open to reducing restrictions on travel and remittances for families. He noted that it doesn't help matters that the Cuban government "isn't nice," however he conceded that other countries like Vietnam or Saudia Arabia also don't have the best Governments either.

On an issue important to me simply for the sake of logic, Rep. Cooper was far less willing to visit the topic of legalizing industrial hemp, noting that it hasn't been a pressing issue for his constituents, and on the topic of the drug war overall, he wishes to exercise caution because focusing on those issues could harm the President's overall agenda. Of course, proponents of inserting a little logic and reason into our drug laws might point out that this overabundance of caution ultimately hinders a more sensible approach because it excludes the political class from the debate and leaves it to policy wonks and activists.

Mike at the Enclave brought up the subject of Chip Forrester, and Congressman Cooper said that we need to start winning, and we should do whatever it takes to win. He echoed some of the anonymous comments over at Post Politics, saying there is a disconnect between "proven vote getters" in the state who supported Charles Robert Bone, and those who just had a political title (assuming he meant Exec Board members). Overall he claimed himself to be a "non-combatant" in this whole process, and is seeking as much distance from state politics as possible.

Towards the end of the discussion, we had a brief talk about defense appropriations, and his seemingly sole support of Secretary Gate's proposed cuts to certain programs (Spragens said that he and McCain were the only ones to issue a press release in favor). He spoke of possibly limiting or eliminating campaign contributions from defense contractors to members of the relevant House Committees, I asked if we could extend that to agriculture, and he said it could be looked at, but was less committal in that area.

Overall a good discussion. and hopefully more like it will take place in the future.

Those attending:

Mack at Coyote Chronicles
Southern Beale
Enlcave Mike
Aunt B
Laura Creekmore

Death To Websters!

Me thinks the Conservatives know neither the definition of "silent" nor of "majority".

Is It Just Me..

...or does Glen Beck remind you of a slightly more cheery version of Lewis Prothero from V for Vendetta?

The Drug War Chronicles

It appears there is yet one more innocent victim in our country's never ending pursuit of purity and righteousness:

When a Fairfax County mother got an urgent call from school last month reporting that her teenage daughter was caught popping a pill at lunchtime, she did not panic. "It was probably her birth-control pill," she thought. She was right.

Her heart dropped that afternoon in the assistant principal's office at Oakton High School when she and her daughter heard the mandatory punishment: A two-week suspension and recommendation for expulsion....

..."Most people would not know the difference between birth control or some Ritalin or Tylenol or codeine," said Clarence Jones, coordinator for the Fairfax school system's safe and drug-free youth program. "If they are just pulling something out of their pockets and sticking it in their mouths, we don't know what they are taking."

True, so true. But (but, but, but), once the administrator/teacher found out that hey, this girl is popping not just "a pill" but "the pill," maybe the prudent thing to do would've been to just go about your business, or at the very least admonish the girl to check her pills in with the nurse...not recommend expulsion for the crime of trying to keep a li'l miracle from being created before she was ready.

Lock 'N Load 'N Grub

Good news gun holders, you are soon going to be able to carry that firearm of yours into restaurants that serve alcohol so long as you do it before 11PM and in the restaurant in question: "[a]t least one (1) meal per day shall be served at least five (5) days a week, with the exception of holidays, vacations and periods of redecorating, and the serving of such meals shall be the principal business conducted."

In addition, the bill was amended to add the failure to properly cook a steak as "assault," thus making it legal to discharge your weapon on the offending server/cook.

Quote of the Day

"It's like when I used to play checkers with my brother when we were kids," this reporter said. "If I got close to winning, he'd just flip the board over so I couldn't win. That's the way it is with Chip."

Its really a shame that all the energy and enthusiasm from the volunteers and many people around the state is being squandered (or at least not fully utilized) because of a group of political "elites" are treating this like a game of chicken, waiting to see if Forrester will blink and resign before the damage done by having a fractured party is insurmountable going into 2010. Right now, there seems to be three options going forward:

A) Chip Forrester resigns, the Exec Committee installs someone the Governor wants, the volunteers that are working now will quit, the party will raise more money, though not as much as we normally could in a good economy.

B) The party continues to do trainings, volunteer activities, etc...while simultaneously being ignored by big money donors and high profile politicians.

C) The Governor and Forrester put the past behind them, work together, the volunteers stay, the money comes in, and the party is in the best possible position for 2010.

The Sad Thing Is...

...half the country probably thinks this guy is right.



(h/t Sullivan)

Legalize It!

It appears that hell hath frozen over...Reps. Ron Paul and Barney Frank have found common ground on an issue, namely, the legalization of industrial hemp.

Tennessee's Bart Gordon is on the committee that is tasked with studying this bill, so if you live in his district, give him a ring and ask him to support HR 1866.

The Gays Is Comin' To Iowa!!!

If I'm reading this correctly, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruled that same-sex partners cannot be excluded from civil marriage. This is pretty big...

Iowa Code section 595.2 is unconstitutional because the County has been unable to identify a constitutionally adequate justification for excluding plaintiffs from the institution of civil marriage. A new distinction based on sexual orientation would be equally suspect and difficult to square with the fundamental principles of equal protection embodied in our constitution. This record, our independent research, and the appropriate equal protection analysis do not suggest the existence of a justification for such a legislative classification that substantially furthers any governmental objective. Consequently, the language in Iowa Code section 595.2 limiting civil marriage to a man and a woman must be stricken from the statute, and the remaining statutory language must be interpreted and applied in a manner allowing gay and lesbian people full access to the institution of civil marriage.

Update: Two of the seven justices on the Iowa Supreme Court were appointed by Republicans, for whatever its worth.

Fightin' For His Farmers

Lincoln Davis was one of eight House Democrats yesterday to break with the party and vote against a bill that would place Tobacco under the control of the Food and Drug Administration, thus hastening its eventual banishment from the United States (or the creation of a really expensive, prescription only alternative).

Why Just Non-Defense?

You know what irks me the most about the whole budget debate? So far as I can tell, not one person challenged this nothing that the only thing on the table in terms of cuts is "non-defense discretionary spending".

We spend more than most of the world combined on our military budget. We are bordered by two allies, and vast oceans separate us from our adversaries. We have the best trained, best equipped, and most hi-tech military force in human history. Maybe, just maybe, we can afford to let the rest of the world catch up a bit and take a breather on new gadgets and toys?

Do we really need more mulit-billion dollar missile programs? Do we need more research into nuclear weapons we won't ever realistically use? Yes, pay the military force we have a good wage, but if we are going to get our budget under control, defense spending will at some point HAVE to be on the table.

Will Somebody Setup a Sweet-Tea Stand?

The Republicans in Middle Tennessee apparently did not get their fill of pointless and illogically named protests, so they are going to have yet another one, same place, same time, different day.

Obama at G20 (sans teleprompter)

Since the Republicans have an unhealthy obsession with the mode of technology President Obama uses to read his speeches from, you'll be pleased to see the President using the ol' fashioned piece of paper to relay his message to the world:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Obama Derangement Syndrome

Some of the conservatives have it bad. While its understandable that conservatives would dislike President Obama's programs and policies, their obsession with the trivial is getting to be quite absurd.

On the one had, you have wingers freaking out over the President giving the Queen of England a video iPod loaded with footage from her trip to the United States, along with music from an American composer. An iPod that she apparently requested, and that her staff said was a big hit with the Queen.



Now, Obama's next huge embarrassing blunder was having the audacity to say the name "England" in the presence of the Prime Minister... “We owe so much to England; that when you come here there’s that sense of familiarity, as well as difference, that makes it just a special place,” and this is apparently offensive because the proper term to use is "United Kingdom" so as to include Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, etc...but what the wingers won't show you is the preceding sentence: "The thing I love about Great Britain is its people, and there is just a extraordinary affinity and kinship that we have."

I, quite frankly, do not understand the obsession Republicans have with perceived slights against our English cousins. Even if the Queen didn't like her gift, or the Scottish PM was a bit ticked at Obama's one time use of the word "England," does anyone really think that would have a real world impact on our diplomatic relationship? Seriously, folks, seriously...get a grip, we've got a long time to go before Sarah Palin gets her shot at the Presidency, save your animus for the important stuff.

Voting For Self-Interest

One thing that always sort of bugs me is the way liberals tend to talk about poor Republicans, in that they are all being duped into voting against their economic self-interest. While this might be true, looking at the GOP budget, I see that my personal economic interest would be served by voting for them. Under their tax proposal, the combination of personal deduction and exemption would go from around $9,000 to about $16,000. At the same time, their tax proposal would drop my tax bracket down to 10% for everything I make up to $65,999 (when you take exemptions into account). Overall, my income tax liability would decrease by about 40%.

Granted, the country would within a decade or two turn into a really crappy place to live with rampant crime due to the implosion of the federal government...but all the same, I'd personally benefit in the near term from a complete takeover of the federal government by the GOP, assuming they did what they actually said they would (which they never have in the past).

But I'm still voting Democrat, not because I think I'll personally gain, but because I think the country is strengthened under Democratic leadership as opposed to the wackadoodles in the GOP. So maybe low-income Republicans vote on similar reasoning. Not because they think their own self-interest is best served by voting GOP, but because they think the country as a whole would be better off.

I say this not because I think they are right, but if Democrats and Liberals want to continue making inroads with these groups, we have to understand the complexity of why they vote the way they do, and find a way to convince them that the country as a whole, not just them and their own, will be better off under our leadership.

Fun With Charts

Something has been bothering me about the GOP budget. Its not the wildly optimistic forecasts of no negative impacts from massive tax cuts for the wealthy, or the privatizing of medicare, or the laughable prospect of zero growth in discretionary spending; rather, its the chart they attached to it:


As you might expect, the chart essentially shows that Obama's budget will destroy America, whereas there's will put us on the past to fiscal stability. What I find most interesting is not the near term projections of a decade or so, but rather, the numbers further out.

On Obama's budget something happens around the year 2027 that causes the percentage of debt held by the public to dramatically increase in a steady fashion until by about 2042 when we'll have reached 200% of GDP. What happened in 2027? Why the sudden and dramatic shift upward?

Now, for the GOP budget, things are even more strange. They have a relatively even slope after 2020, but then in 2039 there is a bump, and an increase in debt...what caused the bump? Are we going to have another recession in 2039? Did the Democrats finally retake the house? By about 2050, the slope starts going downward until about 2075 when there is just the slightest leveling off, before returning to the downward trend. HOW THE HELL ARE THEY PREDICTING THIS? Does the GOP employ a team of economic psychics to know what will happen 65 years in the future? If so, why could they not have predicted the economic events of the past year or two, and advised us accordingly?

Seriously, I think John Boehner took his kid to work that day, told him to doodle on a chart, and they just filled in the labels afterward.

Democrats Unite Around Common Principles

In a move that could potentially have strong ripple effects over the next couple years, Democratic leaders have decided to put aside their differences and work towards the common goal of electing Democrats, and making this state better tomorrow than it was the day before.

Governor Bredesen, Democratic Leader Gary Odom, and Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester took part in a conference call with reporters (and riff-raff like myself) in order to discuss the results of a series of closed door meetings between various party leaders.

In a statement released in conjunction with the call, the Governor said, "sometimes in politics you lose sight of the forest for the trees. While Mr. Forrester might not have been my first choice for party chairman, and he did some things that I found unpleasant, at the end of the day we all believe that the state is better off in the hands of the Democrats, and as such I will do my best to work with Chairman Forrester, along with Minority Leader Odom and all the other Democratic leaders, to move this state forward."

Even more surprising than the turnabout on issues with the TNDP, the Governor and Leader Odom pledged to put past differences behind them in order to make these last two critical years of the Governor's tenure mean something both for the state, and the party.

Said Odom, "I got involved in politics not out of personal ambition or vanity, but instead because I wanted to do the right thing for the people of Tennessee. While the Governor and I have had our differences over the years, our common vision for the state vastly outweighs those areas where we see differently. I will be honored to work with the Governor over these next two years to ensure the people of the state of Tennessee are being served as ably as they possibly can be."

Recently, the Treasurer of the TNDP, Bill Freeman, resigned due to controversy over his past history of supporting Republicans, including the GOP candidates for Governor. Asked if that was a factor in this reconcilliation, Mr. Forrester admitted it probably wasn't the best idea, and that he understands why the Governor would've been reticent to support the party given Mr. Freeman's stature. After Mr. Freeman resigned, Chairman Forrester consulted with the Governor on a possible replacement, and the Governor responded by asking former Deputy Governor Stuart Brunson to fill the position, to which Mr. Brunson responded affirmatively.

"I can't begin to tell you how pleased I am to have a trusted member of the Bredesen administration working with the party to help rebuild for the 2010 election" Chairman Forrester said on the call. "I remember giving Mr. Brunson his start in state politics many years ago, and so I am proud to have the opportunity to work with him once again. I foresee him being the best Treasurer the TNDP has ever had."

With these new developments, Mr. Forrester announced an upcoming unity dinner (time t.b.d.) which should be attended by the Governor, as well as all the Tennessee Democratic Congressional Delegation.

Fight For Your Right To Vote

The Tennessee Democratic Party is getting in on the April Fools Day business with this press release announcing support for a fictitious bill (SB 357) to allow guns in voting booths:

The Tennessee Democratic Party today gave its full support to pending legislation that would allow citizens to carry their guns into the voting booth.

The Senate bill, SB 357, would remove the requirement that guns be left outside the voting booth.

"For too long, law-abiding Tennesseans have suffered the inconvenience of leaving their guns outside the polling place," says Forrester. "Now however, it has gone beyond inconvenience. With the Republicans removing fair-minded Election Coordinators across the state for partisan reasons, Democrats need to be able to carry their guns to protect their voting rights."

The less on the nose point of the press release is to bemoan the Republican attempts to install partisan election officials around the state.

Candidate Cammack Likes The Color Green

Via Presser:

"Clean energy technology and energy efficiency are important building blocks for our state, not only to protect our vital natural resources but also to create good jobs. I applaud Governor Bredesen for putting an energy efficiency plan in place for state government and for his efforts to make Tennessee a leader in the Green economy. I pledge to continue these efforts as our next governor."

How Republicans Can Regain Power...

...be more like your "conservative" compatriots in Germany and France.

[L]ater today Angela Merkel, the German ­chancellor, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French ­president, will throw down the gauntlet by staging their own joint press conference in ­London demanding the G20 summit usher in a new era of global regulation of banks, ­executive bonuses, hedge funds and offshore tax havens.

In what will be seen as a challenge to Obama, they will also insist nobody at the summit should discuss a fresh stimulus package, despite a report from the ­Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that "world trade is now in freefall".

Why is it that the "liberal" leaders of the United States and England are butting heads with "conservative" leaders of Germany and France who want to expand the role of Government in regulating capitalism? You'd think it would be the other way around. Instead, we have our President seeking to print and shell out more and more money to the financial institutions which created this economic tsunami.

Perhaps, at this time, Obama is being too cautious and reliant on wall street advisers to truly go about seeking "change" in our financial system. In 2002 it was France and Germany were right about Iraq, maybe in 2009 we should listen a little more closely to what they have to say.

Unrelated:

Apparently, the Downing Street staff liked the DVDs: "Unusually, Obama was cheered by Downing Street staff as he went inside for breakfast and talks with the prime minister."

US Gov't: Eh, Whatever...

The Federal Government has apparently dropped its charges against former Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens due to prosecutorial misconduct:

The 85-year-old Alaska Republican was convicted late last year on seven felony counts of lying on Senate financial disclosure forms to conceal hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and home renovations from a businessman.

In early morning court filings Wednesday, the Justice Department said prosecutors withheld evidence from Stevens' defense team that could have been used at trial. Prosecutors asked that the charges be dropped.

They said they will not seek a new trial.

Of course, had this happened prior to the election, my guess is that Stevens would've been re-elected, given the close nature of the race as it was. However, just because they are dropping the charges, doesn't mean Stevens wasn't guilty (he, in all likelihood, was), it could just mean that its not worth the hassle now that Stevens is no longer in office and can't engage in corruption.