October 31, 2005

The Thought Police

UPDATE: Bob Krumm has a follow-up post to this that it is vital you read. After you have read the post below, scroll back up here and click here.

State Rep. Chris Clem emails:

I posted a response to an article on your web page on August 24, 2005. See, http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007098.html

The article was not my article. I merely posted a comment responding to an article. At the end of my criticism of TennCare your blog page correctly attributed the comment to me. Specifically, you listed, "Posted by: Chris Clem at August 24, 2005 08:13 PM."

Please note this was 10 weeks ago. I never listed that I was a state representative. I never mentioned that I was an attorney or the name and address of my law firm.

Apparently, a student or faculty member of Georgetown University (in Washington D.C.) took it upon himself to click onto my name and determine that my email address was cclem@sampleslaw.com. He then tracked down my employer. My employer is the law firm of "Samples, Jennings, Ray and Clem." We do not have a web page. This person then started emailing the senior partner. He never contacted me or tried to debate me. He went after my job.

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe David McReynolds [mailto:jm378@georgetown.edu]
Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2005 10:51 PM
To: hsamples@sampleslaw.com
Subject: Why do you let Chris Clem write such vile things online?

As a business, you probably don't like negative PR. So why do you let Chris Clem write, signed with his work e-mail address, such controversial political tirades online? ... It's one thing to find some fault with TennCare. But Chris is posting, using his work e-mail address, a long-winded screed ... In the future, you should keep him on a shorter leash. It reflects poorly on your law firm.

Sincerely,
Joe McReynolds
Georgetown University

I hope that Bill Hobbs, Steve Gill, TeamGOP and any other bloggers are very careful. These liberal college students and/or faculty are apparently going back and reviewing 10 week old blog entries then tracking down employers and complaining to them. Fortunately for me, I own my own law firm and my partners are as conservative as I am.

I would advise conservatives who post on a blog not to give any information about your real name, work email, real address, name of employer, name of church or any other information about yourself. These liberals will go to any length to randomly destroy a conservative. I don't think they had any idea I was a state representative. I think they just wanted to get a conservative fired from his job.

Chris Clem

Excerpts of Clem's email response back to "Joe McReynolds" are included in the extended portion of this blog entry.

From Clem's email to "Joe McReynolds" at Georgetown University:

Your politics of destruction is scary. It never occurred to me to randomly search blogs and research the names of liberal bloggers. Then research where they work and try to get them fired from their jobs. Yes, technically others who are not as fortunate as myself to own my business should be careful about using their employers' email. But, to try and get someone you disagree with fired is beyond anything I have ever experienced.

My email address that was posted on Billhobbs.com was Chris Clem. You had to click onto the name in order to discover cclem@sampleslaw.com. My law firm does not have a web page. The blog never identified the full name or address of the law firm. It never identified the senior partner's email. You had to really go out of your way to track my employer down and then track down the senior partner and his email. He is not listed.

I only wish I had seen your email prior to my lecture at Stetson Law School and BYU Law School this past Friday. I will still follow up with the law professors who took part in the forum with me. I will send them your new strategy of going after conservatives who dare to post a comment on a blog.

You may have a point that some people abuse their emails, but to set yourself up as policeman of the internet, review 10 week old blog entries and to selectively try to destroy people's lives because you disagree with them would have made Stalin proud.

Since you apparently have stalked me and found my address, employer and name of the people I work with, could you answer 5 questions for me?
(1) Are you a student or faculty at Georgetown?
(2) What motivated you to try and get me fired? Is it really this uncontrollable desire to stop self-employed people from using their work email addresses to post blogs?
(3) Is this just political hardball or do you harbor some deep seeded hatred towards conservatives and/or Christians?
(4) Should I be concerned about you continuing to stalk me, my family, my law partners, my children?
(5) Or, do you limit your destruction to trying to get me fired?

A Letter to Colorado Gov. Bill Owens

Drew Johnson, president of the non-partisan Tennessee Center for Policy Research emails:

You may have heard that Gov. Owens from Colorado recently sent a six page letter to me and the leaders of almost every other free market think tank in America to defend his stance in support of the two upcoming Colorado ballot referenda that would essentially kill TABOR in Colorado. He followed it up last week with a second letter with additional information in defense of his weak assertion that he needs more taxpayer dollars to spend as he and the CO General Assembly see fit. As you may have seen on the Tennessee Center for Policy Research website, we joined two dozen state think tanks to answer Gov. Owens' attacks on TABOR and poor justifications for supporting the toppling of the most successful TEL in America.

Meanwhile, if you're interested in a Taxpayers Bill of Rights for Tennessee, you should read these two research papers of mine:

Spending Spree: The Bipartisan Assault That is Killing The Constitutional Cap on the Growth of Tennessee's State Budget
A 2005 research paper on the failure of Tennessee's constitutional limit on spending to actually reign in spending, and proposals for reforms.

The Case for a Real Tennessee Taxpayers Bill of Rights
A white paper on constitutional limits on taxing and spending, and why the time is right for such a law in Tennessee.

October 28, 2005

The Honorable Bill Owens
Office of the Governor
136 State Capitol
Denver, CO 80203-1792

Dear Governor Owens:

We are writing to you in response to the letter dated October 12th, 2005 which you sent to leaders of the free-market think tank movement.

As leaders of the free-market think tank movement, we appreciate your past efforts on behalf of Colorado's taxpayers and the free-market movement as a whole. The pro-growth policies enacted during your term as governor have not gone unnoticed, and many of us have referred to Colorado as the model for our states.

As leaders of the free-market think tank movement, we thank you for the work you have put into promoting the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) in Colorado and supporting efforts to implement TABOR-like tax and expenditure limitations across the country, as we strive to achieve fiscal restraint within each of our state governments.

But as leaders of the free-market think tank movement, we have to disagree with your assessment of Referendum C, which Coloradans will vote on this November 1st. In your letter you sum up Referendum C as follows: "No tax increase. No budget busting. No change to Constitutional Taxpayer Protections. No change to TABOR."

You know better than any one of us that TABOR is wrongly blamed for Colorado's current budget woes. After all, as you point out in your letter, you have consistently touted TABOR as Colorado's bullet-proof vest. Study after study - most recently a CATO Institute Briefing Paper - have made clear that the budget pressures Colorado has faced for the past four years are not a direct result of TABOR, but of a recession, a drought, and Amendment 23: a misguided educational mandate that forced government to annually increase education spending by at least the rate of inflation plus one percentage point for FY 2001-02 through FY 2010-11, and by at least the rate of inflation thereafter, regardless of economic conditions and at the expense of other programs.

Referendum C would allow Colorado's government to keep all excess tax revenues beyond the spending limit set by the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. But beyond this, the measure would strike a lasting blow to TABOR by permanently increasing the TABOR-imposed state spending limit. Currently, TABOR applies inflation and population growth to either the actual revenue or the TABOR limit in any year, whichever is lower. Referendum C will apply inflation and population growth times the previous year's limit.

Short of being a long-term budget fix, Referendum C is a tax and spending increase that would permanently change TABOR. It would pull the rug out from under TABOR by crippling its spending restraint provision and laying the groundwork for similar damage after 2010. Coupled with Referendum D, which would allow the state to borrow over $2 billion for new spending projects, and make it even more difficult for future budgets to withstand an economic downturn, Referendum C is far from being a sustainable solution for Colorado's budget woes.

As Michael New and Stephen Slivinski point out: If Referendum C passed and revenue was above current projections - which is not unlikely - the legislature could spend all of that money without further voter approval. Estimates have already gone up dramatically: from $3.4 billion in September 2004 to $3.7 billion today. In periods of economic growth estimates of government revenue growth tend to be too conservative. If this holds true for Colorado, and estimates are off by a similar amount as they were from September to now, taxpayers would forego another cumulative $1 billion over the next five years. Referenda C and D would amount to a blank check for increased government spending.

Based on analysis by Americans for Tax Reform, this "blank check" would require each Colorado worker to work an additional 11 days over five years to pay for this new government spending

Besides, Colorado's government is not as starved as some make it sound. Even under TABOR restraints, total spending including federal aid doubled from 1992 to 2002. From 1998 to 2002 alone, government spending increased nearly 15 percent faster than Colorado's economic growth. And Colorado government had the third highest rate in spending growth since taxpayers began receiving refund checks in 1997, topped only by Vermont and California.

A number of lawmakers have addressed Colorado's budget woes as a spending problem this legislative session, and have offered measures that would have saved the state millions of dollars. Yet, the majority in the legislature was not interested in any of these solutions. Instead, their eyes were locked on the TABOR excess revenue. There is no incentive for budget restraint if the onus is taken off the legislature by dismantling the very essence of TABOR. As leaders of the free-market movement, we are not only concerned about the damage Referenda C and D would do to the Colorado Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, but to efforts to enact tax and expenditure limitations across the country.

As you can attest through your previous work to promote TABOR, opponents of TABOR are only waiting for Referendum C to pass. For them, passage of Referendum C would amount to admitting that the most formidable of all tax and expenditure limitations has failed.

Colorado may be in need of budget reform, but crippling the Taxpayer Bill of Rights through Referendum C is not the answer for Colorado, and it certainly won't help the effort in our respective states.

1. "Dispelling the Myths. The Truth about TABOR and Referendum C", by Michael J. New and Stepen Slivinski, CATO Institute Briefing Paper No. 95, October 24, 2005.

2. "The Hidden Tax in Colorado's Referendum C," by Dr. Barry Poulson, Ph.D and Randall G. Holcombe, published by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, October 2005.

3. "Dispelling the Myths. The Truth about TABOR and Referendum C", by Michael J. New and Stepen Slivinski, CATO Institute Briefing Paper No. 95, October 24, 2005.

4. "Cost of Government Day Report, Calendar Year 2005," by Daniel Clifton and Elizabeth Karas, Americans for Tax Reform Foundation, July 7, 2005.

Today's Reading List

Politics: Here's an update on Big Oil, gas prices and greed. ... Glenn Reynolds looks at lies about the Iraq war. ... Bob Krumm does the math on a proposal to wire all of Nashville with broadband. I'm a big proponent of the city (and its 'burbs) taking steps to make high-speed Internet universally accessible, but the proposal that Krumm's talking about is a bad one. Much cheaper to go wireless - with a citywide wi-fi network, easily upgraded to WiMax when that technology is ready. ... A Zogby poll says former U.S. Rep. Ed Bryant would be the GOP's best candidate against Congressman Harold Ford Jr. for the Senate seat to be vacated by Sen. Bill Frist. Matt White has the details and analysis of Zogby's numbers - which also show the state Sen. Kurita, D-Clarksville, would do better in the general election against most of the Republicans than would Ford. Jay Bush also looks at the Zogby numbers. ...

October 30, 2005

Barney Update

Here's an update on the failure of CharacterStore.com to send the Barney costume we ordered for my three-year-old son for Halloween: Their customer service rep finally called back late Saturday and was, at first, very defensive, claiming they never processed an order. However, we had the order confirmation email. Then he said they had to cancel the order because we had given an incorrect Visa account number - but the purchase price was listed as a "pending" charge when I checked debit card account on the bank's website.

The service rep then said they had run out of Barney costumes - but their website is only "updated" for inventory every 48 hours - and had tried to send us an email to tell us they had cancelled our order but they didn't have our email address. However, they had sent us that order confirmation email so, obviously, they had our email address...

I suggested to him that, in the future, when they cancel a customer's order for a child-sized Halloween costume a few days before Halloween, they should call the customer. That would be good customer service.

End result: The pending charge for the Barney costume was never completely processed, so they don't owe us a refund. And they're express-mailing us a free Elmo costume. It's a size too big, but maybe he can be Elmo next year, if at age 4 he still thinks Elmo is cool. If not ... eBay!

Meanwhile, we bought Bennett a non-Barney dinosaur costume at the Halloween Express store at Cool Springs Galleria. He likes it very much.

October 29, 2005

Protestantism is Dead? Good!

Tennessean religion commentator Ray Waddle today looks at the much-hyped decline of "Protestantism" in America and notes that while the number of people calling themselves "Protestant" is declining, the number of people in non-denominational or "interdenominational" churches is growing, fast. Waddle frets that this is because of a new generation "that can't be bothered to learn a little church history."

Waddle:

In 1993, 63% of Americans called themselves Protestant. By 2002, it was 52% - and falling. Among the reasons: a continuing hemorrhage of liberal mainline church membership, defections by young people who were raised Protestant and fewer youths getting any religious training at all. During the same period ('93-'02), the number of people with no religion went up from 9% to 14%, the survey said. And other religions were on the rise. People identifying with Buddhism, Hinduism, Orthodox Christianity and Native American faiths jumped from 3% to 7%.

That group of rising "other religions" included a new category - interdenominational Christians. The rise of these non-denominational (or community) congregations and megachurches has been one of the big stories of the past 30 years. They mostly call themselves "Christian," shunning "Protestant." Yet non-denominational churches are overwhelmingly Protestant in outlook - Bible-oriented, with stress on a personal relationship with Jesus, freestyle in worship, suspicious of liturgy and proud of autonomy.

The upshot: The word Protestant is losing the publicity war. It sounds too churchy, too old-fashioned, too old-Europe for a digital generation that can't be bothered to learn a little church history. Yet the Protestant spirit lives on. Look at politics, where evangelicals - a coalition of Protestants, non-denominationals and others - have taken charge as a voter bloc, influencing today's Republican Party and defining the national debate about biblical values, public morality and biomedical ethics.

What I think is happening is not just the decline of Protestantism but of denominationalism itself - and a return to the concept that the church history that matters most is that which is contained in the Bible, not the history of the denominations.

I wrote about the decline of Protestantism here more than a year ago. Here's an excerpt:

If a survey asked me if I was "Protestant," I'd say no. The term "Protestant" dates back to the early days of denominationalism as a "protest" against Catholicism and the papal system. Although I don't accept the authority of the Pope and am not Catholic, I've never viewed my Christianity as a protest against Catholicism, but simply an embrace of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I'm a Christian in an increasingly post-denominational world. I haven't considered myself to be part of any specific denomination or heritage for at least a decade. I'm a Christian, period. I'm not Baptist, Methodist or Church of Christ - just a Christian. I'm not ashamed of my background, but I don't worship it, either. Denominations and human organizations based on human creeds and human interpretations of divine words are, by nature, imperfect.

Protestants? No. Just Christians.

Protestantism is dying? Good. Long live Christianity.

October 28, 2005

CharacterStore.com Ruined My Son's Halloween Plans

Bennett, my three-year-old son, really wanted to be Barney for Halloween. He picked it. He's dead set on it. So we ordered the size 2-4T plush Barney costume, from CharacterStore.com. They emailed us a confirmation. The costume never arrived. Last night, I checked the confirmation email and clicked the link to track the order status and it said the order was cancelled

No explanation. And they sent no email to tell us that our son won't be getting his Barney costume. And although my wife and I have emailed and left voice mail for CharacterStore.com, they have not responded.

Last year for Halloween Bennett was a CareBear who could not have cared less about Halloween. This year is the first year he has grasped the concept of a Halloween costume. and was and remains dead set on being Barney for Halloween - but CharacterStore.com has ruined Halloween for him.

Do Not Ever Order From CharacterStore.com.

Today's Reading List

The War: Thunder 6 sheds light on nocturnal driving in Baghdad. ...

Politics: Here's a possible poster-child for the Porkbusters campaign. Mark Tapscott has two updates on Porkbusters, here and here. ... Mark Rose reacts to federal budget-cutting... And Tapscott puts pork into perspective: "Japanese gardens for the CDC bureaucrats in Atlanta. Slow, painful, unnecessary death for people with HIV. That's what we get with pork."

In Tennessee politics, The Tennessean's Trent Seibert reports that lobbyists are hosting a big fundraiser for the governor. Bob Krumm comments: "Though perfectly legal, it sounds like a politically tone deaf thing for the governor to do."

Religion: Last week I encouraged you to follow online a series of lessons, from Fellowship Bible Church in Nashville, titled Beyond Belief: Living a Life that is Global, Generational and Generous. The sixth installment, titled "The Model for Generational Influence," is now on the web, in audio and video versions.

Blogging: Forbes attacks blogs, slandering millions of bloggers because of the excesses of a few.

The Media: Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott says he will never read blogs. Meanwhile, House Speaker Denny Hastert has started writing a blog, though he has some things to learn about the medium.

In his first blog post, Hastert enthuses that blogs are "a new way for us to get our message out." But a blog is not just a way to get your message OUT, it is a way to invite others to put their message IN, and to engage in the big conversation - if the blog allows reader comments and uses trackback - or at least provides an email address that the blogger regularly checks and responds to and posts from. Without all the things that make a blog a hub of conversation - generous hyperlinks to other blogs, a blogroll, and some level of published interactivity with readers via comments or email - it's not a blog, it's a website. Here's hoping that Hastert's "blog" actually becomes one.

October 27, 2005

For Sale!

Heh. And, yes, I'd sell for that.

Today's Reading List

The War: Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters finds it curious, illogical and elitist that the New York Times favors keeping troops in Kosovo but wants them pulled from Iraq. He also has a good post looking at how Iraq's Sunnis are coming around.

Politics: The Los Angeles Times looks at the debate over proposals to gut Colorado's highly successful Taxpayers Bill of Right, and why Colorado Gov. Bill Owens - who once was a big TABOR supporter - now has joined the Left to campaign against the measure, which restricts the growth of the state budget to a reasonable and measured pace. If Owens had national ambitions, he's destroyed them. For in-depth research on Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights and why Tennessee needs a similar provision, go here and here. ... Sen. Bill Frist is getting tough on illegal immigration. ... Nashville-area business people and academics like the President's nominee to replace Alan Greenspan. ... Bob Krumm looks at a political scandal and appearance of a cover-up. ... The Tennessean continues to dig into the legislative caucus that was serving as an unregulated and unaccountable conduit for PACs and lobbyists to funnel money to a small group of state legislators. ... Jeff Cornwall likes a new federal tax reform proposal - but says lobbyists and politicians are the big reasons why it has little chance of passing. ... More and more conservatives are coming out against the Miers nomination,

Sports: The best team in the NHL's young season finally lost a game. ... Nashville is going to get a new ballpark for its Triple-A baseball team, an 11,000 seat Camden Yards knockoff that can't be expanded to accommodate a major league franchise, but will be financed over 30 years. Something to think about before you ratify this deal, Nashville politicians: Sometime in the next three decades, the Nashville area's population will top 2 million people - large enough to support an MLB franchise.

The Media: A big announcement.

October 26, 2005

Today's Reading List

The War: Donald Sensing tries to explain why al Qaeda bombed a Baghdad hotel where Western media stay, given that the Western media has largely been doing al Qaeda a favor with its relentlessly negative portrayal of the war. I wonder if, now that they've been targeted by the "insurgents," the media will stop using that word and start calling them "terrorists." related to that, do yourself a favor and listen to this commentary by Anisa Mehdi that aired yesterday on NPR's All Things Considered in which she rightly lambastes the media for calling the terrorists "insurgents."

Politics: Renovation of Tennessee's Legislative Plaza has taken away the lobbyists' lounge. The Nashville City Paper story doesn't explain why they were ever allowed to have a lounge at taxpayers' expense. ... Jay Bush has the fund-raising numbers for the GOP side of the 2006 Senate race in Tennessee. The smart money says Ed Bryant's ahead. ... Ben Cunningham - who really ought to have his own blog - passed along a link to SurveyUSA's latest approval ratings for all 100 U.S. Senators.

Blogging: The Politburo Diktat is creating a "family tree" of the blogosphere, by asking bloggers to report "the one blog that, more than any other, inspired you to start blogging." As I reported (in comment #312), I started my blog on Nov. 30, 2001, after seeing the Blogger service promoted by Moreover.com, a news aggregator. I had never read a blog, never seen a blog and never heard of another blog. I have no "blogfather" or "blog mother." Apparently, however, I do have "blog children."

Milestones

Bob Krumm is appalled by the Left's joy over the death of the 2,000th American soldier in Iraq:

I'm still hopeful that citizen journalism will eventually elevate public discourse for the masses. However, for now, it looks like too many bloggers have fallen into the same pits of partisanship that have long mired traditional media. One of my greatest fears is that the contagion of constant caustic criticism might escape its Washington confines and infect us all. And when I see the joy over "2000," I can’t help but to think that it already has.

Scare Tactic

Headline in today's Detroit Free Press: Draft Ratified; 2,000th Killed. No, the story isn't about some secret plan to institute a military draft. That's just what the clever headline writer at the Detroit Free Press wants you to think.

October 25, 2005

The Future of Mass Media

Terry Heaton blogged what he told some 300 or so "mass communications" students at Middle Tennessee State University yesterday.

I encouraged her to create a music review blog and begin publishing her work immediately. I told her how to find other music review bloggers and gave her some thoughts on finding her "tribe." Danielle will do fine, I predict.

This was a precursor to my entire message to those 300 students, and many came up afterwards to thank me. In a world where the playing field is level and anybody can "publish," why are we waiting for some existing publisher to come along and validate what we know intuitively we can do? "Go forth and make media," was my closing statement. "Blossom where you're planted. DO, don't wait."

... The institution of higher learning needs to take a step back and reflect on what's going on around them. The "one potato, two potato, three potato, four" formula of go to school, get a job, work hard, climb the ladder and be happy is coming apart at the seams, and nowhere is it truer than in the schools of "mass communications" (what mass?). I'm fully aware that this is not a popular message, but if education wants a seat at the future table, it had better be prepared to rise above defending the status quo or it'll never see what's coming.

Today's Reading List

The War: Powerline has an update from Major E., their correspondent in Baghdad. ... Lance Frizzell is blogging the return of the 278th from Iraq. I'll be happy when Lance In Iraq becomes Lance at home.

Politics: A Tennessean editorial says "Lobbyists don't belong on boards, commissions."

The presence of lobbyists on state boards and commissions creates unnecessary suspicion that can easily be avoided by banning lobbyists from state boards. Such a ban wouldn't imply that lobbyists are evil, just that they already have a voice in government. State government can get all the expertise it needs without tapping registered lobbyists for state boards. A ban wouldn't mean a loss of expertise, but it could mean a gain in public trust in government.

Bob Krumm finds an interesting oddity in the state's ethics laws regarding lobbyists taking legislators to dinner, and comments, "If ever I'm a legislator, I'm going to dinner Dutch or not at all." Tennessee would be well-served if Krumm was a legislator.

The Media: Terry Heaton looks at blog-bashing by AdAge and deems it "absurd." He also previews what he was going to tell 300+ "communications" students at Middle Tennessee State University the next day. I wonder how that went - and how the faculty received it.

October 24, 2005

Today's Reading List

The War: Lance Frizzell links to a story about possible links between the U.N. Procurement Scandal, Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda - and what that says about the judgment and wisdom of a certain Tennessee congressman currently running for the U.S. Senate. ... Jason Coleman looks at the lies in the troops-burning-dead-Taliban story, and the anti-war activist who is telling lies. ... Michael Yon is up with his latest dispatch from the combat zone. ... Michael Totten has a must-read report from Lebanon. ... And, after reading this, I've decided to eat a BLT for lunch today.

Politics: Sunday's Tennessean reported, in another great Trent Siebert story exposing the unethical swamp of state government, that lobbyists have been appointed to more than 50 seats on state boards and commissions in the past three years - about half of them to panels that have sway over the very issues the lobbyists are paid to influence - and that Gov. Phil Bredesen approves, even though sitting on state boards allows lobbyists more access to policy-making and gives them inside-the-game opportunity to affect special-interest legislation on Capitol Hill.

Drew Johnson, president of the nonpartisan Tennessee Center for Policy Research, is quoted: "Any meaningful ethics reform must end the dubious practice of appointing lobbyists to boards and commissions. Allowing lobbyists to serve on boards and commissions that can benefit the interest groups for which they lobby - a clear conflict of interest - must end."

Bob Krumm comments: "Some of those lobbyists sit on Elections Commissions. They sure would hate to have Sen. Jim Bryson's common sense reform outlawing such conflicts of interest to go into effect before the next election." Krumm continues in a separate post...

Now it looks like the Governor will call a "special session" in January immediately preceding the regular legislative session. Here's how ineffective that early session will be: if any substantive legislation comes out of the special session, those rules will not apply when the Legislature regularly meets the very next week. In Tennessee, laws don't have to take effect until January 1st of the year after they are passed. We, therefore, are stuck with our current shady ethics laws through yet another session of the Legislature, and for another election cycle.

[UPDATE: Here's the TCPR press release with a link to that study, titled Influence from the Inside: An Investigation into the Prevalence of Lobbyists on Tennessee's State Boards and Commissions. The study,, co-authored by TCPR President Drew Johnson and research fellow Trapper Michael, finds that in 2004, better than one out of every 12 lobbyists sat on a state board, while only one out of every 2,653 Tennesseans who are not registered as lobbyists served on a board. The 38-page TCPR report - here - is a damning indictment of "business as usual" in our state government of of the insiders, by the insiders, for the insiders.]

On the same topic, here is a PDF of the front page of the Sunday Chattanooga Times Free Press with the first of their three-part series on Tennessee's lobbyists. See the amazing graphic showing just how politically incestuous things are on Capitol Hill. Also, here are links to Sunday's article and Monday's article.

Don't miss Tom Humphrey's column in the Sunday Knoxville News Sentinel explaining why the governor decided not to call a special session to reform legislative/lobbying ethics.

Also, Sunday's Tennessean editorialized in favor of closing the ethics law loophole that lets lawyer-legislators lobby state agencies. Matt White has commentary on the loophole, as does Tim Chavez, who says "character is lacking" in the leadership of state government. And the Jackson Sun wonders how House Majority Leader Kim McMillan - who wrote the law preserving the loophole and then promptly took advantage of it - can possibly be trusted to write new ethics laws.

On Saturday, The Tennessean reported on one of the uses of money in the Black Caucus' PAC-funded, unregulated slush fund - scholarships for Caucus members' relatives. Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel has more on the disclosures showing that the Caucus was serving as a conduit for funneling money from lobbyists and special-interest PACs into the pockets of member lawmakers, outside of normal campaign-finance and lobbyist-gift regulations and laws.

A story in today's Nashville City Paper looks at unkept promises to close the "late bills committee" loophole that lobbyists use to wine and dine lawmakers.

Sharon Cobb is angry.

And, finally, Adam Groves has a post about game theory and the 2006 Senate race in Tennessee.

Sports: Rob Huddleston is bleeding orange, while Blake Wylie is gloating. Me? I'm cheering for the other UT this year. Hook 'em Horns.

The Media: From Tim Chapman, via Mark Tapscott, comes a link-filled report on bloggers invading Congress. ... Jeff Jarvis mulls Judy Miller and the New York Times. ... Ben Compaine looks at the downsizing of newspapers. ... and Jeff Jarvis takes on elitist curmudgeons who just don't get it.

October 22, 2005

Around Town

My wife and I had the pleasure of hearing Jonell Mosser sing at the B.B. King's Blues Club in downtown Nashville last night. Mosser, for the unenlightened, is one of Nashville's best vocal talents - and that's saying something given that this city probably has more singing talent per capita than any place on the planet. She's also been vastly underappreciated by the major record labels for more than a decade.

October 21, 2005

It's the Little Things That Count

I took this picture yesterday afternoon. The trees to the left and right of the sidewalk are all maples, all planted at the same time. The trees on the left turned to autumn colors more than a week ago, the trees on the right have yet to change much at all. I think I know why that is, but what do you think? There are clues in the picture. Click image to enlarge.

Today's Reading List

The War: Donald Sensing has a personal update. So does Thunder 6.

Politics: In Tennessee, state House Majority Leader Kim McMillan, D-Clarksville, says her work as an attorney representing a client before a state agency that, as a legislator, she has power over, was proper and legal. Today's Tennessean story, however, has no comments from McMillan on whether or not it was proper for her to pass a law creating the exemption to state law that allowed her to do it. ... Also in today's Tennessean, news of a move to clean up another ethical mess, and an editorial opposing a proposal to allow the voters of Nashville to vote on property tax increases. ... And Bob Krumm has two posts on ethics in state government, including this one and one listing ten reasons why Gov. Bredesen decided to not call for a special session on ethics.

On the national scene, Ed Morrissey says there's a way for President Bush to gracefully exit the Miers nomination debacle. ... Blake Wylie has a Porkbusters update on the vote by 82 Senators, including both from Tennessee, to waste $220 million on that "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska instead of reigning in pork spending and diverting the money to rebuilding bridges destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Glenn Reynolds has more here, with copious links.

The Blogosphere: Terry Heaton is overwhelmed. Says Heaton, "facing surgery without insurance is nothing compared to facing surgery with friends."

October 20, 2005

Out and About

A little slice of perfection...

On a road south of Franklin, Tennessee...

Just three minutes from suburbia.

Click images to enlarge.

Today's Reading List

The War: This will make Lance Frizzell happy.

Politics: The Tennessean's Trent Siebert has an exclusive story about a serious conflict-of-interest involving state House Majority Leader Kim McMillan, D-Clarksville. A lawyer, she took advantage of a loophole in state laws to represent a client before the Tennessee Regulatory Authority, a group over which she has significant budget control and for which she has carried bills over the years. Siebert reports that the new ethics law that McMillan sponsored last spring appeared to crack down on such arrangement, but "contained an exemption that lets lawmakers/lawyers do this kind of work." ... Meanwhile, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports that more than a dozen political action committees have donated money to a controversial race-segregated lawmakers caucus that is legally barred from campaign activity - and hasn't followed any of the applicable fiscal reporting and IRS tax procedures for the past 20 years.

Also in Tennessee politics and news today, Mark Rose wonders how Nissan could possibly be contemplating moving its American headquarters from California to Tennessee given that the Tennessee Tax Structure Study Commission recently claimed that the state's current tax structure is "anti-competitive" and "makes it particularly difficult to retain individuals and businesses currently located, or doing business, in Tennessee, and to attract new individuals and businesses to move to, or do business in, Tennessee." Visit Rose's excellent Right Minded blog for links to the news story about Nissan, the Tax Commission's report, and Rose's explanation of why Tennessee's tax structure is no deterrent for business.

Technology: The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a consumer privacy and digital rights organization, says there are codes embedded in printouts made by some color laser printers that can be used to track the origin of a printed document. Red Herring says the codes are ostensibly a part of anti-counterfeiting measures developed by government agencies to curb the creation of fake currency but could have serious implications for consumer privacy, according to privacy advocates. Government sources and at least one manufacturer confirm they work together on occasions to help prevent counterfeiting.

The Economy: The New York Times has a report on the resiliency of the Bush economy in the face of two devastating hurricanes and surging energy costs.

Religion: Via Matt Ritchie's blog, I found a fascinating article by Frank Viola titled "AN INTERVIEW: with a Modern-Day, Sunday-Morning, Church-Going Christian." Here's a paragraph to get you interested: From the day I stepped out of institutional Christianity until this day, I have been asked the following question countless times: "Why do the vast majority of Christians prefer the traditional church, with all of its unbiblical practices, over churches that are patterned after the New Testament?" If you're a part of the religious background that I came from, you think you know what he means by churches "patterned" after the New Testament - but you're wrong.

October 19, 2005

Today's Reading List

The War: Lance Frizzell looks at the Media Research Center's big study of the American media's coverage of the Iraq war. Surprise: It's been "overwhelmingly pessimistic." For a more accurate and complete picture of how things are going in the war, my advice is: read military bloggers. It is self-evident The guys with boots on the ground know from experience how things are going much better than do reporters holed up inside Baghdad's Green Zone and editors ensconced in Manhattan, DC and Atlanta.

Politics: National Review Online praises my congressman, U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, for not rolling over on the Miers nomination. .. Bob Krumm looks at whether the FBI's Operation Tennessee Waltz sting was targeted based on racism or if the FBI simply went after corrupt legislators. More thoughts on the same topic here from The Tennessee Liberal. ... Also, in a related post, Krumm stands up for Frank Ritter, because Ritter stood up for state Rep. Stacey Campfield. All three are stand-up guys, in my opinion. ... Speaking of Campfield, he translates some popular political sayings for you.

Religion: Robert Byers considers the Christian businessman's obligations vis a vis illegal immigration and asks "Who would Jesus hire?" Illegal immigration is "a problem that people who describe themselves as "conservative, Republican and Christian" could work to fix as well. Yes, it would require considerable financial sacrifice. Yes, it might mean they would have to change their business model and practices. But isn't living the Christian life supposed to require sacrifice? "Take up your cross" and all that?" ... Also, Tod Bolsinger, writing from GodBlogCon, reflects on the limits of blogging.

The Media Is CBS really going to reinvent TV news?

October 17, 2005

Today's Reading List

The War Another bad guy bagged: A Somali suspected of being a militia leader during the 1993 "Black Hawk Down" battle that left 18 Americans dead was arrested Monday on suspicion of war crimes while attending a conference in Sweden, police and organizers said.

If you've read the book Black Hawk Down, you know what most people don't - some of the bad guys in the battle of Mogadishu were trained how to shoot down helicopters by members of al Qaeda, who got good at it while fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda has been attacking America and Americans for a lot longer than just since 9/11. And we went to Somalia to feed people - not to steal oil, as Somalia has none.

Politics: If I still lived in Davidson County instead of the suburbs of Nashville, I'd be signing Ben Cunningham's petition to put the most recent big property tax increase to a referendum. Even if you supported that tax increase, you have to admit there nothing more democratic than letting the people vote on whether or not their taxes go up.

Matt White has some questions for Van Hilleary. And Adam Groves weighs in with an analysis of the polling and fund-raising numbers for Hilleary and Ed Bryant in the 2006 Senate race. ... An elected official claims, "We don't have anything to hide." But they don't have complete records of how the money was spent, either - including unexplained payments to lawmakers. ... Speaking of payments to lawmakers, Adam Groves explores whether the defense might play the race card as the Operation Tennessee Waltz public corruption prosecutions move forward. Er, , except some of the indicted have already plead guilty, and two of the indicted lawmakers were white. ... And, finally, Hugh Hewitt has some thoughts on the Miers nomination.

Blogging: Knoxville News Sentinel columnist George Korda goes gunning for state Rep. Stacey Campfield with an obsequious column titled "What Stacey Campfield ought to do," but Campfield fires back on his blog, suggesting that what Korda ought to have done is, A) get his facts right, by B) calling Campfield before he wrote his column so that, C), he didn't embarrass himself or his editors.

The dynamics of hunting changes when the deer have guns.

Religion: Here's a CNN report on GodBlogCon at Biola University. I wish I'd made the trip out there for that.

Media: Terry Heaton comments on corporate Big Media: "Corporate America may gobble up all the media properties like record albums at a garage sale, but they'll be of no use to anybody except the collectors."

Will Big Media really be "talking to no one soon," as Heaton hypothesizes? Perhaps. The more people that contribute to the web - not just surf it, but actually contribute content in the form of blogs, podcasts, and other digital media - the less we'll care what a handful of self-appointed self-important elites in a "media center" like New York or LA think we should read, hear or see for news or entertainment.

You won't need New York to tell you what happened in Peru or Peoria today once the people of Peru and Peoria can tell you themselves, directly, with text, audio, video and - most importantly - the perspective of being the people who lived through the news, not the perspective of people who jetted in after the fact. Only one thing can derail the new news future, and Heaton notes it: "Keeping the Web free is our major challenge, and we must be ever diligent in that task."

In the News: Sylvester Stallone is going to do a sixth Rocky movie. And a fourth Rambo. The first Rocky was a genuine American classic, a great film, but I fear we're only three or four years from Rocky Meets Rambo with the winner to take on the survivor of Alien vs. Predator II.

Advice Department: Terry Heaton says, "All I really need to know I learned in the blogosphere." It's a pretty good list.

Le hasard favorise l'esprit prepare*

I saw Last Best Chance, a one-hour mini-movie staring Fred Thompson as the President of the United States facing the threat nuclear-armed Islamic terrorists, on HBO last night. The movie was produced by the Nuclear Threat Initiative to illustrate the very real possibility that terrorists will get their hands on - or make - nuclear weapons, and attempt to use them against the United States and other Western targets, and why the civilized world must act quickly to secure the world's stockpiles of nuclear weapons and weapons-grade materials. My biggest gripe: That Fred Thompson was only playing a fictional president, and isn't planning to run for the job for real. For more on the Nuclear Threat Initiative, visit LastBestChance.org. For a free DVD of the movie, click here.

*Chance favors the prepared mind. - Louis Pasteur

Beyond Belief

I've been following a series of lessons, "Beyond Belief: Living a Life that is Global, Generational and Generous," online at the website of Fellowship Bible Church of Brentwood, Tennessee. You can watch it online or download the audio as mp3 files. I recommend the video if you have time to watch it online as some of the series relies on visuals. By the way, if you're a fan of Dave Ramsey, he delivers lesson 3.

Today's Reading List

On the Blogroll: Terry Heaton is facing surgery this week. Without insurance. Naturally, the blogosphere is stepping up to help. Give here, generously. I've already tithed this month, but next payday I'll be tithing to help Terry, a friend as well as a colleague-in-blogging.

The War: Regime Change Iran has the latest news from and involving Iran, the terrorist-supporting country that's on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. ... Donald Sensing has thoughts about the amazingly successful consitutional referendum in Iraq - and what it tells us about the current state of al Qaeda. ... Walid Phares counts up the victory.

Religion: Mike Cope has some thoughts about real salvation. (Hint: it isn't an event but a process.) ... Tod Bolsinger is blogging GodBlogCon 2005 and wonders if it's wrong for faith-bloggers to be anonymous. Here's the Technorati round-up of GodBlogCon bloggage.

Politics: Former state Rep. Jim Henry, a Republican may run for governor of Tennessee against the incumbent Democrat. You can expect the Democrat to use this information to paint Henry as pro-state income tax. ... Bob Krumm connects mandatory nursing home sprinklers, Hurricane Katrina and Tip O'Neil.

In the News: Nashville City Paper reports on how illegal immigrants are taking advantage of Tennesse's "toughest in the nation" driver licensing laws and then using their not-legal-for-ID "driver certificates" in order to get Virginia car tags that they shouldn't have - and then getting into wrecks. ... Also, Larry Daughtrey is right.

Advice Department: Never bring a knife to a gunfight.

And Finally...: Doh!

Looking for ACU alums from the 1980s...

If you attended Abilene Christian University in the 1980s, like I did, Darren Duvall has a question for you. Short version: Why do ACU alumni who attended the school in the 1980s seem to have a lot less school spirit - and give much less to the school - than do alumni from other decades? That reminds me ... I gotta send a donation. Duvall - probably the best cartoonist ever to become a radiologist - has a long and thoughtful essay on the problem - read it here and leave your thoughts in the comments if you really did attend ACU in the 1980s. On a related note, Ken Pybus - former editor of Nashville Business Journal and now a journalism professor at ACU where he teaches the dreaded Comm Law class, has a blog about mass media legal and ethics issues here.

October 15, 2005

Blogger Job

Here's a job listing for a blogging PR job in Nashville. Downside: You can make more at McDonalds.

October 14, 2005

Defending An Inconvenient Freedom

Bob Cauthorn over at Corante's Rebuilding Media blog, highlights a momentous decision by the Delaware Supreme Court recognizing that comments posted online have First Amendment protection.

The Delaware Supreme Court yesterday delivered what one hopes is a watershed decision when it definitively extended First Amendment protections to an anonymous blog poster who attacked an elected town councilman in Smyrna, Del. More importantly, the court set the bar high because the unknown posters' comments were filled with obscenities and innuendo about the councilman, Patrick Cahill. That's the bright line for significant First Amendment rulings - when you see judges protecting loathesome speech, you know they're serious.

A PDF of the rulling may be found here. Download it. Frame it. Savor it.

Considering the drift in our nation lately, one gets the feeling that certain people -- and pretty much everyone in the Bush administration -- have forgotten that America is about inconvenient freedoms. Convenient freedoms are easy. They cost nothing and they withstand no assault. Standing up for the inconvenient freedoms in the most difficult times is what defines you as a patriot. Every member of the Delaware Supreme Court deserves a kiss on the cheek today for reminding us that this is America, afterall.

In a variety of lower court cases, it appeared that contemporary courts are reluctant to extend established press protections with regard to commenting on public officials, etc. to individual bloggers. The troubling suggestion has been that these protections apply if you're a media company but not if you are an individual.

Equally troubling, many of the nation's leading media companies largely have been absent from the fight. They appear to have little interest in helping to secure for individuals the same protections they enjoy as companies. When Apple goes after a blogger for posting a legitimate news item about new products, the nations media should rise up as one to fight on behalf of the blogger.

This is the first time a high court in America has clearly extended the same protections to individuals posting on the net - specifically with respect to libel and defamation - as enjoyed by the traditional press. Furthermore the language of the decision suggests that all meaningful press protections should be extended to individuals on the net. This ruling will be cited in trials across America and it will prove to be very influential.

Read the whole article.

Today's Reading List

The War: Donald Sensing has an update. Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters notes the price some Iraqis are paying for freedom. "Life Free or Die" indeed. And Thunder 6 eulogizes a fallen comrade.

Politics: Bob Krumm wonders if some are backsliding toward the bad old days on racism. A Tennessean editorial notes the problems caused by the refusal of two indicted state senators to resign. Matt White has thoughts on the former and the latter. Rob Huddleston is all over the Miers nomination. And, finally, from Bob Krumm - hey, he's good - comes some amazement that state tax dollars are being used to fund "praise and worship services" put on by a racially segregated group - but, oddly enough, the local ACLU posse isn't riding over the hill with their lawsuit guns a' blazin'. Krumm warns, "Whenever lawmakers, money, and secrecy collude, the people are not represented."

Sports Scott Johnson at Powerline is remembering Sandy Koufax - more for his commitment to his faith than for his curveball.

In The News: The Tennessean has two stories dealing with legislative ethics and the legislature's taxpayer-funded taxi service. Also, for you jazz lovers out there, the Nashville City Paper's Ron Wynn reviews a new Sony four-disc set, Progressions: 100 Years of Jazz Guitar

October 13, 2005

Progress in Iraq

The Bangkok Post tells the truth that the New York Times and the rest of the American elite media refuse to acknowledge: There has been "extraordinarily good news" in Iraq. Read the whole thing.

Need a Treadmill?

We have one of these, virtually new as it has almost never been used. It's already assembled. If you live in the Nashville area and need a treadmill, please make an offer.

Today's Reading List

Tech: I want one of these. Related: Here's a good Business Week analysis of why Apple killed off the iPod mini at the peak of its popularity.

The War: Donald Sensing has a good post with links to key stuff today, including a Max Boot article about our chances for success in Iraq. He also has a good analysis of why Iraq isn't Vietnam, and al Qaeda is wrong to pin its hopes on a Vietnam-style ending.

Politics: Anklebitingpundits.com is reporting that GOP Majority Leader Roy Blunt is considering holding a vote on Social Security Personal Retirement Accounts on the House Floor - but not to try to actually pass the much-needed reform. Instead, ABP reports, Blunt is doing it only to allow some vulnerable GOP congressmen to vote "No" which will allow them to put some room between them and President Bush. Bob Krumm has four good posts today, including some thoughts about a sanctimonious state senator, an unethical state senator, and whether a certain legislative caucus that hasn't been following the law regarding its finances gets taxpayer funding. (Yes it does.). His fourth post wonders why would anyone run for public office. And Jay Bush has a long email from former Senate candidate Ed Bryant about President Bush's Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers.

Religion: Tod Bolsinger writes about being from another world.

The Media: Google News has a list of articles about ConvergeSouth, the big blogapalooza in Greensboro, N.C. Also, Sarah Moore engages in some humorous media criticism. And Terry Heaton looks at the new deal between Apple and ABC to sell TV shows to people to watch on their new video iPods and says, "what's really happening is that in today's distributed media world, middlemen are increasingly unnecessary. It is inevitable that program producers will distribute directly to consumers, and that's true of all forms of media." ... It is also inevitable that, increasingly, those people called "consumers" will also become producers of video programming, which they'll distribute directly to other people via services like iTunes.

Freedom Works

Reader Ben Cunningham sent along a link to the text of a speech given yesterday by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Ben especially liked this part:

"Whether by intention or by happenstance, many, if not most, governments in recent decades have been relying more and more on the forces of the marketplace and reducing their intervention in market outcomes. We appear to be revisiting Adam Smith's notion that the more flexible an economy, the greater its ability to self-correct after inevitable, often unanticipated disturbances. That greater tendency toward self-correction has made the cyclical stability of the economy less dependent on the actions of macroeconomic policymakers, whose responses often have come too late or have been misguided."

"Despite that perception, flexible labor policies appear to promote job creation, not destroy it. An increased capacity of management to discharge workers without excessive cost, for example, apparently increases companies' willingness to hire without fear of unremediable mistakes. The net effect, to the surprise of most, has been what appears to be a decline in the structural unemployment rate in the United States."

October 12, 2005

Bloggers Surveyed

The number one reason people begin blogging is to establish themselves as a visible authority in their field, according to a study by public relations firm Edelman. Blogger Survey 2005 lists the above reason as the mindset of 33.8 percent of respondents. Another third, 31.5 percent, say they blog 'to create a record of my thoughts." Fewer than five percent blog to generate revenue. The survey also has data on how often bloggers post, the most common ways correct factual errors in previous posts, and several questions relating to trust. You can see the results here.

Yahoo! To Include Blogs in News Search Results

The news in this AP story might get me to switch from Google News to Yahoo! News...

Yahoo Inc.'s online news search tool on Monday added Internet journal entries as a supplement to professional media offerings - an experiment that figures to test the public's appetite for information from alternative sources. Under Yahoo's new approach, a keyword search for online news will include a list of relevant Web logs, or "blogs," displayed in a box to the right of the results collected from mainstream journalism.

Google Inc., which runs the Internet's leading search engine, so far has treated blogs differently. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company last month introduced a specialty search engine that does nothing but sift through blogs. Meanwhile, Google's news section continues to focus on material from mainstream media.

Yahoo's inclusion of blogs in its news section represents another validation for a growing group of people that are bypassing newspapers, magazines and broadcast outlets to report and comment on topical events. Although many top bloggers lack formal journalism training, it hasn't stopped them from building loyal readerships or breaking news that the mainstream media either missed or ignored.

Jeff Jarvis has further thoughts about Yahoo's decision to include blogs in its news search results.

Today's Reading List

The War: Doug Petch links to a blog by Kentucky soldiers serving in the war, while the indispensable PowerLine looks at the Iraq war through the eyes of al Qaeda.Also: Regime Change Iran notes reports that London is accusing Iran of running training camps to teach militants how to carry out roadside bomb attacks on British troops in southern Iraq. Lance Frizzell remembers the al Qaeda bombing of the U.S.S. Cole five years ago today. And the Washington Times looks at whether American relief efforts after the Southeast Asian earthquake might be good for America's image in that part of the Muslim world.
Politics: Polar Donkey looks at Harold Ford Jr.'s performance at a Democracy for Nashville coffee - and isn't impressed. Meanwhile, Rex Hammock, who never writes about politics, writes about Patrick Ruffini, the GOP's new top blogmaestro. Also, - he's not a blogger, but George Will's recent column about the fight over Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights is a good read, though Will is wrong about what would be the best result of the forthcoming referendum. And Matt White blogs some bad news about a good man in the Tennessee legislature.
Pop Culture: Mary Madigan mulls Che Guevara chic.
Media: Charles Johnson at the invaluable Little Green Footballs looks at a report that Dan Rather had some doubts about the authenticity of those documents that turned out to be phony. Meanwhile, the WaPo looks at blogs as a form of psychotherapy. And Paul Chenoweth mulls what happens when blogging becomes work.
Religion: Sharon Cobb explains Yom Kippur.

October 11, 2005

Is the First Amendment Only For a Special Elite?

Bloggers would "probably not" be considered journalists under the proposed federal shield law, the bill's co-sponsor, U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R.-Ind.), told the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) Monday afternoon, according to a report from Editor & Publisher. The question is, can Congress give a select elite few a "privilege" based on the First Amendment that isn't granted to all who write or speak? If the First Amendment applies to all Americans, you would think the answer would be no. [Hat tip: Sharon Cobb] Blake Wylie comments.

Today's Reading List

The War: Donald Sensing on the war and the peaceniks. Thunder 6 on arm-wrestling and car bombs.
The Media: Jeff Jarvis blames Edward R. Murrow for Dan Rather, and Terry Heaton slams Online Journalism Review for slamming "citizen's media." Mick Wright, meanwhile, lists 10 things he hates about your blog.
Religion: Shaun Groves on the "Just War" theology. Mark D. Roberts has a good series on whether the New Testament gospels are reliable accounts. And Tod Bolsinger is bicycling for Jesus.
Tennessee Politics: Bob Krumm on the Tennessee House Black Caucus and Bob Krumm on the killing effects of Tennessee's giving driver's licenses to illegal aliens. Also, Mike Hollihan opens the hood on a Richard Locker story in the Memphis C-A and finds bias rattling around in the gearbox.

Thanks

A big "thank you" to all the bloggers saying nice things about me that I don't really deserve, including Mike Hollihan, Sharon Cobb, Blake Wylie, Doug Petch, GeoTenn, Pieter Dorsman, Christopher Fotos, Michael Silence, David Bander, Rob Huddleston, Johnny Dobbins, Jay Bush, Adam Groves, Lance Frizzell, Paul Chenoweth, Matt White and Jeff Cornwall.

I'll clip those for my mom to tape to the fridge.

This one, too.

October 10, 2005

Today's Reading List

Shocking But True

Today I am announcing major changes to BillHobbs.com, effective immediately, that will alter this blog's content and its role in the blogosphere for the foreseeable future. The short version: I am putting my writing of political commentary on indefinite hiatus. I am not, repeat, not completely shutting BillHobbs.com down or disappearing from the blogosphere. I am merely taking a break from what has become a rather time-consuming and uncompensated hobby in order to put more focus on my family, my career, and an increasing workload of blog-related consulting for corporate and political clients.

I started writing my blog almost four years ago - Nov. 30, 2001 - as an adjunct to my weekly newspaper column in the Nashville City Paper, to provide readers of that column with more information, including links to documents and data I cited. (I started this blog over on the Blogger service without really knowing what a 'blog' was or what it could be.(After publishing there for more than two years, I moved the site Jan. 1, 2004, to this URL.) It has been an incredible and educational experience, and I've never been more positive about the future of blogs as a journalistic medium. But after four years of doing this blog - I'm ready to make some changes.

The biggest change: I'm going to suspend writing about politics for awhile. After four years of writing about Tennessee state government and the state budget - more, actually, if you count the more than a year that I wrote about that topic for the City Paper and, before that, for about a year for the now-defunct weekly In Review - I need a break from it.

I'll be publishing non-political essays here from time to time - because I'm a writer not just by trade and training but by nature. I might also do some more photo-blogging. And, occasionally, if I have some new insight into this fast-evolving new world of citizen journalism that hasn't already been noted by Jeff Jarvis or J.D. Lasica or Jay Rosen I might peck out an essay on that.

But what you won't see me doing is day-to-day coverage of and commentary on what's in the news that day in state or national politics and government. Instead, I'll post, without commentary, links to articles and blog posts that I've read and think you might like or benefit from reading too.

When I started this blog I had no idea what it would become - a fascinating experience in an exciting new form of journalism that is, hands down, superior to any form of journalistic medium that's gone before. If I can in the future I'd like to be involved in teaching Tennessee bloggers some basic journalistic skills and techniques so that they can do on their blogs the same kind of in-depth, fact-based journalism I've done here - because there's no fact or story I've ferreted out and published here that any other blogger - or any of my readers - couldn't have found themselves and brought to light.

Journalism isn't difficult - and you don't need a four-year degree to do it or do it well. You need to be able to ask the right question, you need to know how to find information, you need to write reasonably well, and you need to be accurate and be honest. And you need a place to publish - a blog.

I'm excited to see that, in just the last year or so, a vibrant second generation of bloggers focused on Tennessee state government and state politics has emerged - bloggers like Matt White, Bob Krumm, Blake Wylie and Sharon Cobb and others that you'll find on my blogroll - and, if I can, I'd like to help more emerge. Nothing would be better for state government than to have every part of it watch-dogged daily by a handful of bloggers who all know how to dig up information, ask good questions, and write well.

While I won't be doing daily political commentary here, I do plan on remaining involved in the Nashville-area blogosphere. I'll continue working with Sharon Cobb on what I call the Citizen's Editorial Board project - organizing the monthly lunch series for Nashville-area political bloggers to converse with an invited politician or political candidate. We currently are awaiting word from U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr.'s Senate campaign as to whether he will be our guest at such a lunch later this month.

I also will be working more on developing the VolPols.com project, which was created to provide every single member of the Tennessee legislature a free blog if they want one. My critics should note: both of those are non-partisan projects.

So, that's it for now.

UPDATE: Forgot to mention that advertisers currently running on the site will be offered a pro-rated refund.

Blogging Tip

Here's a blogging tip for you bloggers out there: the newest version of the Google browser tool-bar has a spell-check feature that you can use to spell-check your blog entries before you post them. As with all things Google, It works very well. You can download it here.

Small Change

$139 million? I remember when Internet companies were spending that much just on Aeron chairs, foosball tables and Super Bowl ads.

October 8, 2005

Major Announcement Coming Monday

In the news biz, that's called a teaser.

One Hand Washes The Other

Did state Sen. Curtis Person Jr. push legislation to benefit the cable television industry at the very moment his son, Curtis Person III, was applying for the job of Director of State Legislative Affairs for Comcast Cable of Tennessee?

As I blogged here in late August, the younger Curtis Person was hired as Comcast's top Tennessee lobbyist. He previously had worked for another cable company, Charter Communications, and has served on the board of the Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association.

Here are some facts: Comcast posted the job opening in mid-February.

The job ad stated that the "Director of State Legislative Affairs" would be "responsible for development, implementation and coordination of all state legislative programs and practices, including monitoring legislation and developing and implementing legislative strategies; and coordination with state association management."

Among the job duties:

Work with senior management to develop and implement appropriate strategies to shape state legislative policy.

Provide guidance and support at all management levels to ensure consistent and sound state government policy and enhance communication with state officials.

Monitor state legislative activities affecting Comcast and the cable industry.

Draft, analyze and/or present legislation, amendments and testimony as necessary.

Develop and maintain relationships with government representatives and regulators at the state level.

And Comcast's choice for that role: the son of a state Senator who has in the past pushed legislation favorable to the cable industry.

While I don't particularly like Comcast - I finally ditched their cable and high-speed Internet service and got DirecTV and BellSouth DSL a few months ago and am glad I did - they do have a right to voice their opinion on pending legislation and argue their for their viewpoints and policy recommendations.