Looking Tough

A story in Friday's Nashville City Paper says state Sen. Jim Bryson, the likely Republican nominee to face incumbent Gov. Phil Bredesen in the November election, will run a "bold, unconventional and unpredictable campaign." And a big angle of attack on Bredesen - in addition to the easy shots at Bredesen over his failure to fix TennCare (and the subsequent dumping of 193,000 sick, old, poor and disabled people off the TennCare rolls), and the string of ethics scandals that have cast a tinge of backroom smoke and dirty dealing over the administration (remember those state troopers getting promotions in exchange for campaign donations) - will be Bredesen's failure to protect the people of Tennessee from the negative impact of illegal immigration.

Bredesen has said that immigration is a federal problem and opposes giving state troopers authority to enforce immigration law. He recently did agree to allocate 100 National Guard troops to the border.

He is anything but.

While Bredesen's administration hands out "driver certificates" to illegals, it did nothing to stop the Mexican consulate from using a public high school in Nashville - government property - as a site to distribute those dubious "matricular consular" cards to illegals living here, a form of ID for illegals that presents a very real security risk.

Bryson supports legislation that would involve the THP in enforcing immigration laws, and also supports giving driver's license tests in English only. Bredesen opposes both - and when pressed on illegal immigration he merely passes the buck and says it's a federal matter.

But the federal government is doing nothing or the wrong thing most of the time on that issue, and Tennessee taxpayers are spending millions for healthcare, education and a myriad of other services for people who have no right, legal or otherwise, to be here.

And the gravest danger of Bredesen's inaction and buck-passing on illegal immigration was brought home to the Nashville area a few days ago with the killing of a Mt. Juliet couple by an illegal immigrant drunk driver who, if anyone in local or state government had done their jobs right, would not have been here.

No, Bredesen won't do what is necessary to address illegal immigration. He IS willing to send a paltry number of TNG troops to the Mexican border, if they're requested, which they haven't been. Of course he's willing to send them - they'd a good backdrop in a Bredesen campaign ad showing him as "tough" on illegal immigration.

But looking tough and being tough are two different things. And Bredesen is as far from tough on illegal immigration as Nuevo Laredo is from the North Pole.

Illegal immigration is the hottest political issue nationwide - and polls consistently show people want tougher measures taken. It's an issue that could expose Bredesen, a supposed 800-pound political gorilla, as a paper tiger instead.

Donate to the Bryson campaign here.

Emphasizing the "Junior"

Harold Ford Jr. reportedly called the three Republicans running for the U.S. Senate from Tennessee "the three stooges." Didn't Junior's daddy ever teach him not to call people names?

June 24, 2006

My Friend Flickr

This and more photos on my Flickr page, including more horse photos, if you like that sort of thing.

A Kelo Executive Order

President Bush has issued an executive order that might be a positive step toward eminent domain reform. Or it might not be:

The political backlash against the Supreme Court's decision Kelo v. City of New London has largely fallen short of the mark, despite massive public outrage against the condemnation of property to promote "economic development" by other private parties. ... Numerous state legislatures are enacting laws that supposedly ban Kelo-style [takings] but actually achieve little or nothing. Today's presidential executive order on eminent domain continues this pattern. On the surface, the order seems to forbid federal agencies from undertaking economic development condemnations. But its wording undercuts this goal. ... Even had President Bush's order been better worded, its impact would have been limited. The vast majority of economic development condemnations are undertaken by state and local governments, not by federal agencies. Nonetheless, it is unfortunate that the Bush administration has chosen to join in the charade of pretending to do something about Kelo while actually doing little or nothing.

And despite what you hear from some quarters, government in Tennessee does abuse its eminent domain authority to take private property from its owners and give it to wealthy private developers. As the Tennessee Center for Policy Research notes in a recent Kelo-related press release:

Currently in Memphis, James Sneed is fighting to keep his 80-year-old home that the Memphis Housing Authority is attempting to condemn as a part of "Uptown Memphis," a mixed-income community to be owned by a private developer. The project, which will cost taxpayers $200 million, will force hundreds of middle class and low-income residents from their homes.

Sixty-six of the 176 properties acquired by the Memphis Housing Authority for Uptown Memphis have been condemned through eminent domain against the will of the owners.

For all my past posts mentioning Kelo, click here.

Flying Blind

The Saturday Tennessean reports that there is some sort of deal in the works that could eventually repeal something called the "Wright Amendment," which, reporter Bush Bernard says, has prevented Southwest Airlines from flying directly from Nashville to Dallas' Love Field airport. This deal, says The Tennessean, "could result in lower fares to Dallas."

Well, I had no idea!

The story, on page one of the June 24 business section, is not only nine days late - the compromise deal was announced late on June 15 - it contains a rather odd error. In the section looking at how the deal may impact fares from Nashville to Dallas, reporter Bernard writes:

Colleen Conway-Welch, dean of the nursing school at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who usually flies to Dallas on American, is glad the Wright Amendment appears to be on the way out. "I think it's a step forward," she said. "This was a very convoluted problem ... and I think they've come to a good solution for the interim."

Her op-ed was published June 14 - in The Tennessean.

Update June 26: Shortly after I wrote this post, I emailed the link to it to Tennessean reporter Bush Bernard, along with this message:

Bush - Colleen Conway-Welch doesn't favor repealing the Wright amendment. She wrote an op-ed published in the Tennessean June 14 saying just the opposite. I blogged it - and the deal you reported today - back on June 15.

You are correct. What I wrote was that she supports the compromise. The nuance was changed in the editing process, but either way, she does support the compromise.

But, hey, blame the editors, I guess, although I thought all those editors and layers of fact-checkers were supposed to be the advantage the mainstream media has over blogs.

June 23, 2006

Yesterday on Music Row

Some guy sitting on top of his van, playing his guitar, on Music Row, where the record labels have their HQs. Only in Nashville.

I Like My Boss

Working for myself is not a bad gig.

Today, in between doing some work for some clients - including my newest client as of yesterday - I cut the grass, trimmed the trees, edged around the patio, and generally did all the stuff on a Friday morning that most guys have to do on a Saturday. We had a landscaper here today - he doesn't have a website or I'd link to it. He cut down three evergreens to make room for the PlayNation play set that's to be installed later today.

I also found time to take a few photos of the roofers replacing the shingles on my back-fence neighbor's house, because of hail damage from the April 7 storms. They are finishing up the roof while thunderstorms are moving around the area. I'm not sure I'd be on a roof with a nail gun with lightning not too far away Our insurance company has had a roofer look at ours - no word yet if they think it needs a new roof, but many of our neighbors do.

It feels like a Saturday and I have a lot of my Saturday stuff already done. But it's only 2 p.m. on a Friday.

Not bad.

Not bad at all.

State Senate Candidate Vows Immigration Reform if Elected

State Senate candidate Chip Throckmorton is promising to pursue some rather sensible government reforms to battle illegal immigration if he is elected to replace GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Bryson in the state Senate in November. From a Chip Throckmorton press release:

Franklin, TN - Chip Throckmorton's plan to tackle the illegal immigration crisis would begin with a reform of government itself. In his most recent television ad, Throckmorton identifies a disconnect between government policy and practice. [View Commercial]

"It seems like whenever politicians talk about immigration these days, all you hear is talk about how they want to turn small businesses into a police force. If the government is ready to get serious about illegal immigration, they ought to clean up their own house first."

In the ad, Throckmorton proposes legislation that would require all state, county and municipal contractors to employ only documented, legal workers. "As a conservative, I believe WHAT YOU DO IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN what you say. Every politician has a good sound bite on immigration reform, but I'm prepared to do something about it, requiring that the government lives by the same rules that you and I do."

Throckmorton points out that immigration is no longer simply a federal issue about securing the borders. "Our state judicial system is overwhelmed with civil and criminal cases dealing with illegal aliens and our health care providers are in crisis because of the overwhelming demand by illegals, especially for emergency care. We can't simply call for action by the federal government, we need someone in the legislature prepared to lead on this issue. If I'm elected to the State Senate, practical immigration reform will be my top priority."

State Senate District 23 includes all of Williamson County and parts of southern Davidson County. Election day is August 3, and early voting begins July 14.

Update: Andy Ogles, a genuinely nice guy who would make a good state legislator, has dropped out of the District 23 senate race. Oh, and Tom Neill, the former HCA exec running for the GOP nomination - his website calls the company "Hospital Corporations of America."

NYT Helping Terrorists Again

The New York Times has compromised national security - which means, they've compromised your security and put your life at increased risk of terrorist attack - again.

Failing You

The Friday Nashville City Paper has details on how the criminal justice system repeatedly put illegal immigrant Gustavo Reyes Garcia back on the streets instead of in jail or on a bus back to Mexico. Now, two Americans are dead because the system - from local law enforcement to state law enforcement to the criminal justice system and even to the highest reaches of the federal government - failed in its primary duty: to safeguard American lives. The City Paper has a good editorial on the Garcia case as well.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen insists immigration is a federal issue, and fought against a proposal to involve the Tennessee Highway Patrol involved in enforcing immigration laws. But here's the bottom line: If someone at any level of government had enforced the immigration laws and removed Gustavo Reyes Garcia from American society, Sean and Donna Wilson of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee would be alive today.

Local law enforcement and the criminal justice system failed the Wilsons. Gov. Bredesen, who has done nothing on illegal immigration except to pass the buck, failed the Wilsons. The federal government failed the Wilsons. And by doing so, they all failed you, too.

And in a final insult to you, they're all going to bend over backward to protect the rights of a killer who has no right to be here in the first place.

June 22, 2006

None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See

One of the downsides of being a thoughtful, intelligent blogger instead of a raving, ranting lunatic is you are subjected to a lot of email from raving, ranting lunatics from the other side of the political aisle. Case in point, an email I received today from "Clarence Swinney," a self-styled "political historian" from Burlington, N.C.

Norah O'Donnell told Dean--do not you think you should give Bush some slack for we have not had a terror attack in 5 years.

A response--Norah, you beauty, you either forgot or do not know this.

We have had only three attacks on America by foreign terrorists in 50 years.

You want to credit Bush with 5 years.

We had not had an attack in prior 8 years. Do you want to credit Clinton?

By my count, that's four attacks on America and Americans during the Clinton administration - three if you count the simultaneous embassy bombings as one attack instead of two. And while the Cole was attacked in a Yemen port, the WTC is most definitely "America," and international law recognizes a country's embassies as its own territory. Attacks on our embassies are attacks on America.

I will give Swinney credit for one thing. I agree with his email's subject line: "I give up expecting intelligence from Democrats."

One Year After Kelo, Tennessee Private Property Owners Still At Risk

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research has released an assessment of how well Tennessee private property owners are protected from governmental abuse of eminent domain powers a year after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Kelo decision which empowered governments to take private property and give it to private developers for virtually any project for any reason.

Despite passage of new legislation, "Tennesseans aren't any more secure from having their property taken than before the law was passed," says Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

One Year After Kelo Ruling, Private Property Remains Vulnerable in Tennessee
New Tennessee law to limit eminent domain abuse offers little protection for property owners
Nashville, TN - Friday marks the one-year anniversary of the infamous Kelo decision in which the Supreme Court determined that governments have the authority to use eminent domain to take homes, businesses and places of worship for private profit.

Tennessee lawmakers responded to the public outrage against the Kelo decision by passing eminent domain legislation. According to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, however, the new law does not protect property owners enough.

"Tennessee's new eminent domain law is a joke - and the joke is on property owners across the state," said Tennessee Center for Policy Research president Drew Johnson. "Tennesseans aren't any more secure from having their property taken than before the law was passed."

In particular, Johnson says that the law's failure to clearly define blight and its outright encouragement of eminent domain use to acquire land for industrial parks makes it particularly threatening to property owners. The bill, which was signed into law by Governor Bredesen earlier this month, also specifically allows for government taking of private property for playgrounds, recreation centers and land that may one day be turned into a lake.

In the year since the Kelo decision, more than 4,000 properties have been threatened or condemned by governments that hope to transfer properties from their owners to politically connected developers.

"A year after Kelo, Tennesseans must remain vigilant in the defense of their private property rights by encouraging state lawmakers to pass genuine eminent domain reform as soon as possible," Johnson said.

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization committed to public policy remedies grounded in the innovation of private enterprise, the ingenuity of individuals and the abilities of active communities to achieve a freer, more prosperous Tennessee. For more information, visit www.tennesseepolicy.org.

June 21, 2006

Space for Sale

That scrolling WKRN ad up there has been running on this blog for more than a year now, and expires at the end of June. The space - 400 pixels wide, 100 pixels tall - is available for rent. Long-term deals only. Contact me at bill-at-billhobbs.com.

Blogalism Update

The Kentucky state government is censoring which blogs state employees can read on their office computers. ... Meanwhile, the blogs continue to hammer Jason "The Liar" Leopold and TruthNot.org contortionist editor Marc Ash over their continued insistence that Karl Rove was indicted (he wasn't) and allegations that Leopold lied to get his (false) scoop. MediaBlog has the latest. ... And Markos Moulitsas, a/k/a "Kos," is working overtime to squelch coverage of the growing payola scandal involving DailyKos.com and Kos' co-author and co-blogging-leftwing-activist Jerome Armstrong.

Meanwhile, here's a job posting that shows the increasing inroads that blogs are making in the newspaper business.: The primary responsibility of the position is to cover city and county government and contribute to the IR's growing on-line presence, which will include reporting, columns and blog moderation...

Improving News

"The news from the Muslim world is not that anti-Americanism has grown - that's old hat. The real news is that America's image in Muslim lands is starting to get better." So says a pollster and a Council on Foreign Relations researcher, in a Boston Globe op-ed. Related: Hollywood is detracting from the war on terror.

Rather Late

Dan Rather is leaving CBS. He says he's going to continue working so perhaps now he can go to work finding out the source of those forged and false documents he used to slander President Bush with just before the 2004 election. For my money, Rather's legacy can be summed up in his on-air statement a day after bloggers had already shown the documents were modern-day forgeries:

"If the documents are not what we were led to believe, I'd like to break that story."

June 20, 2006

On The Trail Of the Nun Bun

The Tennessean has the latest on the search for the famous pastry.

Political Payola

Did "Kos" and his partner Jerome Armstrong shill for candidates who were secretly paying Armstrong thousands of dollars? It sure looks that way. And while it's not illegal, it's incredibly dishonest.

And stupid - because whatever they gained monetarily pales to the credibility that they sold. From now on, readers of Kos and Armstrong will have to wonder if the candidate or cause they're touting is being touted because Kos and Armstrong really believe in it, or because they're getting paid.

FYI, BillHobbs.com is not funded wholly or in part by any candidate, party or political organization. It's funded by, well, mainly me, along with a few dollars donated none too often by readers via the PayPal or Amazon tip jars. And revenue from blog ads, though I'm running zero ads right now. What's up with that? It's an election year and no Tennessee candidates appear to be running blog ads? What? There are no underfunded candidates out there running for governor or the state senate who wouldn't welcome a great ROI on their advertising bucks by buying a few low-cost blog ads?

All kidding aside, the ethical, open, honest way for a candidate to reward a friendly blogger is to run an ad on their blog, if they take advertising - though it won't guarantee favorable coverage on the blog. It's also a good way to reach the blog audience, of course, and at a very low cost. Regular readers of this site know I am supporting state Sen. Jim Bryson's bid for governor. He's welcome to advertise here. But so is Mark Albertini, who is running against Bryson for the GOP nomination. And so is Gov. Phil Bredesen, the incumbent Democrat. It won't get Bredesen favorable coverage, but it would get his message in front of an audience that he won't reach at Democratic Party events around the state.

I wouldn't take a dime from any of those candidates - or any candidate in any race - in secret or openly, for "consulting" work that amounts to nothing more than shilling for them on my blog. But that looks to be what Kos and Armstrong may have done, with Armstrong raking in thousands of dollars as his partner Kos urged the DailyKos.com fanatics to give money to those very same candidates.

Update: More on the Kos-ola story at Kausfiles.

Karl Rove and the Time Traveling Aliens

Tom Maguire looks at TruthNot's ongoing insistence - in the face of all evidence to the contrary - that presidential advisor Karl Rove was indicted.

I Want One

My next laptop. Or not, as my Dell 700m is barely a year old.

Cobb Salad Days

Don't look now, but Sharon Cobb has dipped her toe back into the blogosphere.

June 19, 2006

The Saudi Blogging Revolution

The Christian Science Monitor has a story on the rising number of Saudi women bloggers...

In this country where women are forced to completely cover themselves in public, are barred from driving, and need permission to travel abroad, it's small wonder many are embracing the freedom of anonymity on the Internet. As Internet usage continues to climb here, so do the numbers of women who have started Web logs, or blogs, to express themselves in ways they might never do in public.

"I love blogging because it helps me to express myself and I like to write in English," says Farah Aziz, a translation student at King Saud University in Riyadh who started blogging in January 2005.

The content of Ms. Aziz's blog (http://farahssowaleef.blogspot.com), which chronicles the life of a college student, would probably do little to cause alarm among government censors. But other women bloggers are drawing the attention of the state as well conservative male bloggers who have taken to policing the Internet for bloggers acting in ways that they perceive as inappropriate according to Islam.

Saudi Eve, who regularly writes about her love life and religion, and who declined to be identified by her real name because of the sensitivity of the issue, woke up on June 2 to find that her blog (http://eveksa.blogspot.com) had been blocked. "Back and blocked," she wrote on her blog on June 2. "I'm temporarily back in Saudi only to find that 'Saudi Eve is officially blocked in Saudi.' "

The closure of her site signals the beginning of a cyber battle between liberal Saudi bloggers and their more conservative counterparts.

Brilliant

WKRN Channel 2 General Manager Mike Sechrist has posted video on his blog of a TV commercial the station chose not to air, an in-house promo for its weather news team. Click the link at the end of his blog post. And while you're waiting for the video to load, reflect on how brilliant a move it is for, A) WKRN to have its GM and some of its on-air personalities to have blogs, and, B) what a great move it is to use the Net as a way to distribute content the station produced but, for whatever reason, didn't broadcast.

The un-broadcast ad is funny - they ought to air it.

Bryson Hits Bredesen on TennCare, THP, Ethics

The Monday Tennessean carries an AP report on the governor's race in which Republican state Sen. Jim Bryson hits Democratic incumbent Gov. Phil Bredesen on a variety of issues, including ethics lapses involving top administration officials, the governor's failure to fix TennCare (resulting in 170,000 sick, old, disabled and poor people losing their healthcare coverage), and more.

"What we have done is limited benefits and cut people off the rolls - it doesn't take a great manager to do that," he said. Bryson said management changes at TennCare could have saved enough money to keep more people on the rolls.

Bryson said he was just drawing attention to what he called the ethical lapses and management failures of an administration that professes both areas to be strengths. He cited recent troubles at the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the shredding of sexual harassment investigation documents in the governor's office as problems. "I got into this race because I felt that there were a lot of issues related to leadership in Tennessee and whether Mr. Bredesen was providing the kind of leadership that was going to move Tennessee forward," Bryson said.

Immigration and education are among the top issues Bryson wants to campaign on. Bryson said he would establish a state office of immigration reporting directly to the governor's office. Having the Highway Patrol enforce immigration laws and imposing greater penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants are among the state-level initiatives that Bryson said he would implement.

Update: Bryson today is urging Gov. Bredesen to drop his opposition to a policy that would allow state law enforcement to hand over to federal authorities illegal immigrants charged with criminal acts. Here's the press release. Excerpt:

The move comes after a Mt. Juliet couple was killed in an auto accident by an illegal immigrant who has been arrested 14 times previously.

"This is a tragedy for the family and it could have been prevented," said Sen. Bryson. "It is common sense that state law should require illegal immigrants who commit crimes be immediately turned over to federal authorities. In addition, it is incumbent upon federal officials to respond when they are contacted by state law enforcement."

Just two months ago the state Senate passed legislation that would have allowed state law enforcement to turn over to federal authorities illegal immigrants who commit crimes. Bredesen vigorously opposed Senate Bill 2426 and spoke out several times against it.

"I hope the Governor will now rethink his position on this issue," said Sen. Bryson. "I supported the legislation – which received not a single no vote in the state senate - so we could prevent tragedies like this. It is a Governor's job to lead, not oppose common sense solutions supported by the elected representatives of the people."

Here's one:

"I don't think it's appropriate for the state or we ought to be spending a lot of our money having the Highway Patrol expanded to go out and look for illegal immigrants or something," Bredesen said last week, adding that he thinks immigration is a national issue.

In an unrelated story, Bryson has vowed to not accept campaign contributions from Tennessee Highway Patrol employees.

His promise comes after a year of headlines and media reports about troopers with criminal backgrounds, allegations of ticket-fixing, and a culture of cronyism and political arm-twisting that included preferential treatment for officers who gave money to Gov. Bredesen's 2002 gubernatorial campaign or had family members or political patrons who did.

No one on Bredesen's staff was ever fired for giving preferential treatment and promotions to troopers in exchange for campaign donations.

June 18, 2006

Waiting For Break Time to End

See more of my photos at my Flickr page.

One Tree Hill

Photographed along Hillsboro Road in Williamson County, Tennessee. See more of my photography at my Flickr page.

Atlanta Burning

A recent USA Today article looks at Nashville versus Atlanta.

The Story of the Story About the Indictment of Karl Rove

The Sunday Washington Post has a fascinating look at the "scoop" that the leftwing TruthOut.org published saying Karl Rove had been indicted, which was, well, 180 degrees out of sync with the actual truth...

The May 13 story on the Web site Truthout.org was explosive: Presidential adviser Karl Rove had been indicted by Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald in connection with his role in leaking CIA officer Valerie Plame's name to the media, it blared. The report set off hysteria on the Internet, and the mainstream media scrambled to nail it down. Only . . . it wasn't true.

As we learned last week, Rove isn't being indicted, and the supposed Truthout scoop by reporter Jason Leopold was wildly off the mark. It was but the latest installment in the tale of a troubled young reporter with a history of drug addiction whose aggressive disregard for the rules ended up embroiling me in a bizarre escapade -- and raised serious questions about journalistic ethics.

...Leopold seems to assume, as does much of the public, that all journalists practice deception to land a story. But that's not true. I know dozens of reporters, but Leopold is only the second one I've known (the first did it privately) to admit to doing something illegal or unethical on the job.

...Leopold is in too many ways a man of his times. These days it is about the reporter, not the story; the actor, not the play; the athlete, not the game. Leopold is a product of a narcissistic culture that has not stopped at journalism's door, a culture facilitated and expanded by the Internet.

Read the whole thing.

June 16, 2006

Mall Fair

It's baaaack. Every year, this dinky little carnival sets up its rickety-looking rides at the local mall. Every year my children want to go. Every year we spend two weeks trying to avoid driving within visual range of the carnival. It's annual rite of summer for us and, I suspect, for a lot of parents.

They Deserve It?

The Friday Tennessean says the Dixie Chicks "deserve" airplay for their latest music. Not true. We live in a market-based economy, and that includes entertainment. Country radio station programmers aren't playing the Chicks because their audience doesn't want them to play the Chicks. How do I know? Because country radio station programmers know that their radio station exists to make money for its owners, as all for-profit businesses do. And radio stations make money by attracting lots of listeners, and then charging profitable rates for advertising. If the market - country music fans - wanted to hear the latest Dixie Chicks music on the radio, the station's programmers would be playing it. They don't, so they aren't.

You don't get what you "deserve" in a market-based economy, you get what you earn.

The Dixie Chicks said they didn't want to do country music any more and, judging from their latest album, they aren't. They don't "deserve" airplay for non-country music on country music stations, or any other stations. They'll get airplay if sufficient numbers of listeners to a radio station request it.

June 15, 2006

Wright Amendment Headed for the Dustbin of History!

Southwest and American Airlines have agreed on a compromise regarding the future of Love Field. It includes a phasing out of the Wright Amendment, and continued service at Love Field.

The agreement also will allow Southwest to sell single tickets for connecting flights out of Dallas, instead of continuing to force customers to buy two tickets - one for each flight. This is great news as it will begin to put downward pressure on fares for Nashvillians headed to Dallas.

More here.

I wrote about the Wright Amendment earlier today, and also a few days ago here.

Wrong on the Wright Amendment

Colleen Conway-Welch, dean of the School of Nursing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, had an op-ed in the Wednesday Tennessean, headlined "Southwest's Dallas setup inconvenient for Nashville travelers", arguing against repeal of the Wright Amendment, which restricts the cities Southwest Airline can service non-stop from Dallas's Love Field. The Wright Amendment, as I wrote a few days ago, results in Nashvillians having to pay high fares to travel to Dallas on American Airlines and other carriers that use Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Welch's argument falls apart for a number of reasons. Here's an excerpt of her op-ed:

I fly through Dallas frequently and have heard many opinions on whether the Dallas area should continue to maintain two airports (Love Field and Dallas Fort Worth Airport, or DFW) that are nine miles apart. Since the resolution of the issue will likely have an impact on my travel plans (and those of other Nashvillians), for better or for worse, I decided to learn more.

... If the Wright amendment is repealed, Southwest could fly from Love Field directly to all of its other cities around the country.

To remain competitive, other airlines would be forced to split their flights between Love Field and DFW, forcing all of them to serve two airports nine miles apart. They would need to reduce and/or eliminate many connecting flights offered out of the DFW hub and move them to Love Field to protect their market share in other markets served by Southwest.

This would greatly inconvenience the Nashville-originating passengers who today connect through DFW to many other domestic and international connections. It does not make sense to repeal the Wright amendment and force other airlines to use the more limited services at Love Field when there is ample room for Southwest at DFW — but Southwest would have to compete directly against those other airlines at DFW.

Choice and competition undergird the American system. If the Wright amendment is repealed, Southwest would continue to dominate Love Field and the other airlines would need to cobble together an expensive, duplicative system to use both air fields. This certainly is not cost-effective. It seems obvious that the Wright amendment should remain in effect.

If Southwest wants to fly to more cities and states from the Dallas area, they should fly from DFW, keep the "playing field" level and allow Nashvillians more and better connections on a variety of carriers out of the DFW airport, including Southwest.

Beyond that, Welch seems to argue that the a "level playing field" is required for there to be fair competition between Southwest and the airlines that use DFW. But let's apply her reasoning to the local retail scene. Some retailers locate in malls, which are more expensive per square foot than your average strip mall. That means that competing stores selling identical merchandse are not on a level playing field. Yet Welch isn't calling for regulatory changes to force all retailers into the mall, to level the playing field.

Welch's op-ed also implies that it would be better for a vast, sprawling, major metropolitan area like Dallas-Fort Worth to have just one airport . But she isn't calling for the New York area to shutter three of its four airports - JFK, LaGuardia, Newark and Long Island/Islip. Houston has two airports - Bush Intercontinental and Houston-Hobby. Which would Welch suggest be shut down? The Los Angeles area has four airports - LAX, Orange County, Ontario and Burbank. The San Francisco Bay area has three - San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose. Again, which should be shut down in the name of forcing all air carriers to compete at one location?

Southwest's Love Field location is "inconvenient" for Nashville travelers only because of the Wright Amendment, which prohibits Southwest from flying non-stop from Nashville to Love Field. Repeal the Wright Amendment and you'll see non-stop service from Nashville to Love Field on Southwest, at lower fares. You'll also see American Airlines, which dominates DFW, respond by reducing fares.

And you might see American add flights from Dallas to Love Field. Welch's argument that such service would be "expensive" and "duplicative" simply don't hold water as airlines often fly to multiple airports in other cities. Southwest, for example, serves three of the four Los Angeles-area airports.

The Wright Amendment is anti-competitive and costs the American flying public some $4 billion annually in higher fares. Repealing it is the route to true competition - and lower fares.

For more on the Wright Amendment, and why it is time to repeal it, click here.

A final thought: I am mystified as to why The Tennessean would run an op-ed on the Wright Amendment by a nursing school dean rather than someone with actual expertise on the topic. Welch's main expertise seems to be that she "flies through Dallas frequently." Well, millions of people do that, and it doesn't make them an expert on the Wright Amendment.

Perhaps there's another explanation for her seemingly random interest in the Wright Amendment. American Airlines is the airline whose bottom line is most directly threatened by the repeal of the Wright Amendment. Welch and her husband, wealthy Nashville businessman and well-known Republican fund-raiser Ted Welch, are friends with Nashville businessman Joe M. Rodgers, a prominent Republican donor and activist who also is a member of American Airlines' board of directors.

UPDATE: Southwest and American Airlines have agreed on a compromise regarding the future of Love Field. It includes a phasing out of the Wright Amendment, and continued service at Love Field. Under the terms of the agreement - if it is enacted via legislation by Congress - American would get two gates at Love Field. Clearly, American Airlines doesn't intend to move a hefty amount of "expensive, duplicative" service to Love Field.

The agreement also will allow Southwest to sell single tickets for connecting flights out of Dallas, instead of continuing to force customers to buy two tickets - one for each flight.

This is great news as it will begin to put downward pressure on fares for Nashvillians headed to Dallas.

More here.

Governor Likes "Incumbent Protection" Bill

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen is "sympathetic" to the incumbent-protection bill that was rammed through the state legislature on the last day - including via some corrupt means by House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh. Bredesen tells the Nashville City Paper he thinks it should be made more difficult for people to run for public office. For more on the incumbent-protection bill and how Naifeh broke the rules to pass it, click here. Bredesen also might not veto that big pension increase that lawmakers passed for themselves at the last minute.

The Thursday City Paper has an editorial urging veto of the pension increase but supporting the incumbent protection bill.

June 14, 2006

Blogging Baptists Update

The Wednesday Tennessean notes the role of blogs in electing the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention...

Frank Page, pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., said yesterday his selection represented a "new day" for the Nashville-based denomination - which remains united in its conservatism on social issues and the belief that the Bible is the literal word of God - but divided in recent months over management and other doctrinal issues. ...

[Oklahoma pastor Wade] Burleson, among the best-known Internet bloggers who have criticized the current Southern Baptist leadership, said the computer bloggers were key to Page's selection. "Page may have started out as the underdog," Burleson said. "But I attribute the fact (he won) to young men and women on blogs."

Burleson said the fact that Page had edged out more established conservative leaders marked a turning point at the convention, where there have been few contested elections since conservatives took over the denomination in the 1970s and 1980s, forcing out more moderate Baptists.

"I believe it's a turning point," Burleson said. "But it's not a theological turning point. Baptists should go away saying that every Baptist counts. It's no longer kingmakers. It's people at the grassroots."

When Frank's election was announced I was walking around the arena and just happened to be stopped by a reporter in the undergound hallway. He wanted my reaction. Soon other reporters stopped and by the time all was said and done probably over 25 media persons from around the nation stood four deep and asked questions for forty minutes. One of the questions that kept being repeated over and over again is whether or not I believed blogs played a role in this election. I said, "Absolutely." Baptist bloggers in 2006 may well go down in history as the first time bloggers actually determined the outcome of a national religious/political election.

Why? When all three candidates were being nominated my wife leaned over to me and said, "I feel like I know all three men because of the blogs."

Micah Fries and John Stickley over at Friesville will be posting interviews with key people at the SBC.

These men interviewed me this morning as we sat in a cafe in the Courtyard of the Sheraton Four Seasons with thousands of messengers attending the break out sessions at the hotel. Micah asked some excellent questions and hopes to have his interview with me and others up by later this afternoon.

Check it out! This is another example of the way the information age is changing the face of our convention.

Update: Well, not really an update, but the Associated Baptist Press ran a story on June 5 saying blogs were making the upcoming SBC meeting controversial.

Blogs have already revolutionized secular politics, and whether a subset of them have revolutionized Baptist politics will be seen at the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting June 13-14 in North Carolina.

The meeting, in Greensboro, will feature the first seriously contested SBC presidential election in a decade and several other controversial business items. The combination will likely produce the most contentious convention meeting since 1991, when moderates left after an epic struggle with fundamentalists over control of the nation's largest Protestant denomination.

But this time, the struggle is between fellow conservatives. Internal tensions have been thrust into the SBC spotlight mainly by bloggers -- the ever-expanding network of ideological entrepreneurs who analyze and pontificate on their own websites.

In the year since the SBC last met, reform-minded bloggers in the denomination have begun to form their own community on the Internet...

I'm more interested in this story because of the impact of blogs, not the religious/theological issues. I find it fascinating to watch, and wonder if the old-guard leadership of the SBC really understands what just happened, what changes the blogs hath wrought, and what bigger changes are ahead, thanks to the democratization of information publishing enabled by blogs, cheap digital video and related technologies ...

June 13, 2006

Tracks

Train tracks where the railroad cross Lewisburg Pike near downtown Franklin, TN. See this and more of my photos at my Flickr page, including the black-and-white version of this shot.

Angel Waiting

I shot this at a junk store on Lewisburg Pike in Franklin, TN. The angel statue is priced at $35. I'm hoping nobody buys it anytime soon because I'd like to photograph it some more, at different times of the day, in different light. See more of my photos at my Flickr page, including the color version of this shot.

Illegal Immigrant Kills Two

A couple of Americans from the Nashville suburb of Mt. Juliet are dead because the federal government refuses to secure its southern border and enforce its immigration laws. The Tennessean incorrectly refers to the killer as "a Madison man," though he appears to be in the country illegally.

A 27-year-old Madison man was charged with vehicular homicide Monday in the deaths of a Mt. Juliet couple killed in a car crash Thursday. Gustavo Garcia Reyes of 814 Anderson Lane was booked into Metro Jail on charges of vehicular homicide and evading arrest, Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said.

He is being held without bond. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a detainer on Reyes because he appears to be an illegal immigrant, police said.

A 27-year-old illegal immigrant living illegally in Madison was charged with vehicular homicide Monday in the deaths of a Mt. Juliet couple killed in a car crash Thursday.

Border security is not always just an economic issue, or a national security issue. Sometimes it's a personal safety issue too. Sean Paul Wilson, 38, and his wife, Donna Lynne Wilson, 47, both of Mt. Juliet, would be alive today if the federal government was doing its job.