http://billhobbs.com/ en-us 2005-09-22T06:36:39-06:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007364.html This picture - of Galveston school buses carrying evacuees out of the Gulf Coast city before Hurricane Rita strikes - sure puts the picture below in perspective. The picture below shows some of the 255 New Orleans school buses destroyed by Hurricane Katrina after New Orleans and Louisiana officials decided not to follow their pre-hurricane evacuation plan's directive to use such public vehicles to evacuate the city's poor residents, thousands of whom had no... 7364@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-22T06:36:39-06:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007358.html I haven't done much on the Porkbusters initiative that's sweeping the sensible side of the blogosphere, but I agree heartily with John Hutcheson and Bob Krumm about this: As politicians look for federal spending to cut in order to pay for rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Lipscomb University - where I was enrolled for three-plus years back in the mid-1980s - ought to step up and give back the $3 million... 7358@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-21T20:20:30-06:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007357.html Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen's approval rating continues below 50 percent in the latest SurveyPoll. Among all 50 governors, he's 34th in popularity. Here's the tracking data from SurveyUSA.... 7357@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-21T16:59:55-06:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007355.html Former U.S. Rep. Ed Bryant, running for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, was the guest at today's meeting of the Nashville citizens' editorial board, a/k/a, the monthly Nashville Area Political Bloggers lunch. Thanks to Randy Rayburn and Sunset Grill for allowing us the use of the private room for nothing other than the price of whatever we ordered from the menu. (Chicken Quesadillas for me - very good!) I'll have my thoughts later... 7355@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-21T15:32:12-06:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007354.html Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell appointed a non-citizen to the Metro Charter Revision Commission, which recommends potential changes to the city government charter, even though as a non-citizen he is ineligible to vote in any election in Nashville. After questions are raised, the nomination is withdrawn. The man in question is here legally - he is not an illegal alien. Still, until he becomes a citizen, he should not be allowed to be involved in the... 7354@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-21T15:18:55-06:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007353.html Well, how ironic. It seems that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babbling Blanco have decided to use buses to evacuate people from New Orleans as Hurricane Rita possibly approaches the already-devastated city. Here's a copy of a memo from U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, vice-chairman of the House Republican Conference, circulating, on Capitol Hill that notes the difference. It's a pity they didn't use the buses before Hurricane Katrina struck.... 7353@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-21T06:50:57-06:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007344.html Republicans in the Georgia state legislature are proposing "a sweeping initiative to lower taxes and limit spending by state and local government," reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The measure, similar in concept to Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights, would tie state spending increases to the rate of inflation and population growth; and also place limits using similar formulas on city, county and school district spending - and tax collections above what governments were allowed to... 7344@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-20T06:55:15-06:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007343.html There is now at least one patient whose death is documented as having been caused by Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen's meat-axe slashing of TennCare. The Tennessean reports:An East Tennessee man's lack of needed medicines — which had been capped by TennCare — was a contributing factor to his death last month, his doctor found, noting it on the death certificate. James Bryant, of Rutledge, Tenn., was a very sick man, with a hereditary bleeding disorder... 7343@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-20T06:55:07-06:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007342.html BillHobbs.com gets a mention in today's Memphis Commercial Appeal.... 7342@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-20T06:54:59-06:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007341.html A union paid non-union temp workers at $6 an hour to stand in 104 degree weather and protest outside a Las Vegas Walmart where workers average $10.17 and hour, reports Las Vegas Weekly.... 7341@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-20T06:50:24-06:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007340.html In The American Enterprise, Robert M. Dunn Jr., a professor of economics at George Washington Universities, thinks a little wealth redistribution is in order in higher education. Read the whole thing.... 7340@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-20T06:37:38-06:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007332.html A few political links for you today... Memphis Mike Hollihan looks at the possibility of fraud in Ophelia Ford's state senate special election win in Memphis. Ford is U.S. Senate candidate Harold Ford's aunt, and the sister of disgraced, indicted and virtually-certainly-corrupt former state Sen. John Ford, who is Harold Ford Jr.'s uncle. ... Bob Krumm think's Ophelia's win is bad news for Harodl Ford Jr. Matt White wants to know why Tennessee Gov. Phil... 7332@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-19T12:37:30-06:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007331.html One final shot from DC - the giant Oprah head looming over the cityscape was a bit unnerving... UPDATE: As a commenter points out, indeed the photo was taken in the DC suburb of Rosslyn, not in DC itself. Picky picky picky...... 7331@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-19T12:34:07-06:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007322.html The Washington DC Metro is rather photogenic - not to mention frequent and fast. It certainly beats the Philadelphia transit system I grew up with. Unfortunately I was in a hurry and couldn't stick around, but I was able to grab these shots as I passed through. The impossibly tall and steep escalator is at the Rosslyn station. I hung out at the Freedom Forum offices for about an hour, then headed on to... 7322@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-17T09:47:18-06:00 http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007316.html I was near here today.... 7316@http://billhobbs.com/ 2005-09-16T16:41:32-06:00