December 31, 2006

Romney, Bloggers and the Boston Globe

The Boston Globe front-pages a story about Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's efforts to reach out to bloggers as he runs for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. Read it here.

December 30, 2006

Trunk Show

Over at ElephantBiz.com today, a look at how Democrats turned Colorado blue, and why the national Republican Party recruiting former Denver Broncos QB John Elway to run for the Senate in '08 is like throwing a desperation Hail Mary pass in the middle of the third quarter when leading by a field goal - when what the Colorado and national Republican parties really need is a good running game that methodically grinds out first downs.

Energy, Politics and Pond Scum

I'm blogging daily about alternative energy news and issues for Phoenix-based Ecotality Inc, for at least the next six months - click the logo to go to the multi-author blog. My latest posts include a look at developments in energy policy at the state level in Michigan, where the state is crafting a "21st Century Energy Plan" with an eye on alt-energy and economic development, and also a look at the power of pond scum.

December 29, 2006

And A Happy New Year...

I haven't been blogging much the past few days because I've been swamped with a huge non-blogging project for a paying client, and also writing for the Ecotality and ElephantBiz.com blogs. But right now I'm on Legislative Plaza downtown being photographed by a freelancer for Getty Images. More on why in a few days...

By the way, downtown is lovely today - it's in the high 50s and sunny with a breeze. I thought downtown would be emptying out around noon on the last workday of the year, but it seems rather packed - it was difficult to find a parking spot. The capitol building, the backdrop for the photos being taken today, looks lovely - I wish I had my camera with me.

If I don't blog again before the New Year, or even if I do, my best to you and yours - Happy New Year!.

Update: I remembered why downtown is so crowded today. There's sold-out college football bowl game at LP Field.

December 27, 2006

Trunk Show

Over at ElephantBiz.com today, a look at defensive spending in New Hampshire, site of the first presidential primary little more than a year from now.

BlogsBlogsBlogsBlogsBlogsBlogsAndMoreBlogs

Nashville Scene writer P.J. Tobia profiles the eclectic blogging of WKRN weatherman Jeff Ray at his blog WeatherJeff.com. Meanwhile, WKRN's VolunteerVoters.com blogger A.C. Kleinheider has a round-up of the bloggage re Tobia's recent plagiarism as published on the Scene's blog. Meanwhile, last week's Scene has a "Fabricator" column making fun of bloggers and WKRN.

Just another uneventful day in the Nashville area blogosphere.

Power Up

I'm blogging daily about alternative energy news and issues for Phoenix-based Ecotality Inc., for at least the next six months - click the logo to go to the multi-author blog. My latest posts include a look at developments in energy policy at the state level in Montana and South Carolina, and, from yesterday, a look at how politically speaking, "green is the new red, white and blue."

December 26, 2006

Trunk Show

Over at ElephantBiz.com today, the public-financing system for funding presidential campaigns is described as being "in ruins" - and I explain why that's a good thing.

Nashvillians Protected from Higher Property Tax Rates if City Freezes Seniors' Taxes

Interesting story in the Tuesday Tennessean regarding the possible impact on property taxes across Tennnessee if cities take advantage of a new state constitution amendment and freeze property taxes for senior citizens.

A penny saved by seniors on property taxes under a new constitutional amendment will be a penny that cities and counties have to earn elsewhere - in some cases by boosting the burden on other homeowners. Growth in many Middle Tennessee counties could offset the money lost through freezing property taxes for lower-income seniors, but not in Metro Nashville, local leaders say. Nashvillians who don't get the break from the amendment passed in November probably will pay higher property taxes, said Mayor Bill Purcell, who supports the measure.

Bottom line: If Nashville's Metro Council goes ahead and freezes taxes for seniors, it can't automatically raise property tax rates on the rest of the city to pay for it. County commissions in every other county in the state can raise property tax rates to "pay for" freezing seniors' property taxes. The passage of state constitutional Amendment 2 in November just may have created an even more attractive environment for pushing city charter amendments across the state to freeze property tax rates unless voters approve higher rates in a referendum.

See also: Fear and Loathing in Memphis, from November 10, and Nashville Property Tax Charter Amendment Impact Grows, from November 15.

New State AG Once Called State Income Tax "Unconstitutional"

Ben Cunningham sent me a nice Christmas present yesterday - a link to a Knoxville News Sentinel profile of new state Attorney General Robert Cooper which includes mention that Cooper once wrote an article for the Tennessee Bar Journal that argued that a state income tax (as proposed by then-Gov. Ned McWherter) would violate Tennessee's constitution. That's a vast improvement over the legal thinking of his predecessor, Paul Summers, who as AG during the most recent Tennessee income tax war in the late 1990s and early 2000s, wrote an opinion that a state income tax was constitutional. The state Supreme Court has ruled thrice that such a tax is not permissible under the state constitution. Summers' legal opinion was highly flawed as he completely ignored one whole section of the state constitution.

On Tuesday I'm going to contact the Tennessee Bar Association and request a copy of Cooper's 1992 Tennessee Bar Journal article and permission to upload it here as a PDF file.

December 25, 2006

O Holy Night

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. - Luke 2: 1-20

It really happened..

For your Christmas Day viewing pleasure: The Christmas Story in Works of Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Be sure your computer's sound is turned on/up.

December 24, 2006

Trunk Show: The Internet Never Forgets

Over at ElephantBiz.com today, John McCain's team is reminded of the long memories - and long knives - of the political blogosphere.

State Department Gives Global Internet Freedom a Boost

The U.S. State Department will address Internet freedom when it evaluates countries around the world in the next release of its annual Human Rights Report, Paula Dobriansky, under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs, said December 20. In other words, countries that don't let their people freely use the tubes are going to get publicly slammed for it by the State Department.

Dobriansky made the announcement of the next phase for the department's Global Internet Freedom Task Force at a State Department ceremony. She told the assembled policymakers and representatives from the technology industry, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and academia that the Human Rights Report to be released in 2007, which will cover activities in 2006, will include Internet freedom activities. Governments that restrict Internet freedom or in any way punish those who lawfully use the Internet will be cited, she said.

The United States will strive to expand access to the Internet for people the world over, Dobriansky said, because the United States considers unrestricted, lawful use of the Internet part of the fundamental human right of freedom of expression.

Here is an excerpt of Dobriansky's remarks at the event late last week:

The Internet is a powerful tool for positive transformation around the globe. An Internet that is accessible and can be freely used can expose corruption, encourage transparency, and foster participation in the political process. It can also advance education, health, and economic development. The Internet is, in short, a crucial means of empowerment.

Despite international commitments to freedom of expression, numerous governments around the world, seeking to blunt the Internet's transformational power, restrict the rights of their citizens to participate in the online exchange of information, ideas, and ideals. Today, people are imprisoned in a number of countries simply for expressing their peaceful views online.

Secretary Rice established the State Department's Global Internet Freedom Task Force in February 2006 to address the challenges to freedom of expression and the free flow of information on the Internet by repressive regimes, which threaten the Internet's ability to empower individuals and societies. The Task Force will continue to focus its energy on defending Internet freedom by advocating the availability of the widest possible universe of content through the Internet. It aims to promote access to and dissemination of information over the Internet; to increase the transparency of content restrictions; and to minimize the success of repressive regimes in censoring information.

Today, I want to share with you the work of the Task Force thus far, and set out our plans for the future. Our strategy is based on three elements: First, monitoring Internet freedom in countries around the world; Second, responding to threats to Internet freedom; and Third, advancing Internet freedom by expanding access to the Internet.

December 22, 2006

I Want One Of Those

I hope some of my readers have been checking out the ECOtality blog, a new blog about alternative energy where I'm one of a handful of bloggers contributing regularly. The group of bloggers run the gamut politically, from "green" Bush-loathers to, well, me.

I'm a red-state conservative Republican and not exactly a tree-hugger, politically speaking. But I do love the outdoors and think conserving the environment ought to be a GOP issue just as it was when Republican President Teddy Roosevelt created Yosemite National Park. And I am interested in seeing the American economy make the transition to a new post-petroleum era, powered by greener, cleaner, less geopolitically problematic energy sources. In short, I long for the day when all that Middle East oil under the feet of Islamists who wish us ill no longer matters to our economy, our way of life or our politics. I'm also a passionate believer that good old fashioned Yankee ingenuity - American know-how and inventiveness - will eventually create that day.

And so, when ECOtality Inc. of Scottsdale, Arizona, asked me to write regularly for their new alternative energy blog - and promised no interference on content - I eagerly checked them out and found that they are developing a new technology called Hydratus - which produces hydrogen for hydrogen fuel cells "on demand" from magnesium and water.

ECOtality describes the Hydratus as "an eco-friendly power source that is safe, non-toxic, non explosive, and geopolitically neutral." The system uses magnesium - a plentiful substance found around the world - and water as its "fuel" and emits virtually no exhaust other than steam. The hydrogen and waste produced by Hydratus is environmentally friendly: No combustion, no toxic materials, no pollution, and readily recyclable and reusable.

Cool - especially if they can make it work for powering buses and trucks and cars. So I decided to write for their blog. So far, I've written about a North Carolina proposal to generate electricity from pig waste, China's realization that a growing ethanol industry will compete with humans and livestock for corn, a University of Southern Cal research project to generate electricity from well-fed microbes, a Colorado demo project storing wind-generated power in hydrogen fuel cells, and the coming of efficient LED light bulbs. I hope you'll check it out and visit the Ecotality blog often. They might keep me around awhile if you do, which means I'll continue to get paid. And, just maybe, one day, I'll have a Hydratus-powered test vehicle in my driveway, or at least get a free trip to Scottsdale...

Trunk Show

Over at ElephantBiz.com today,

A Half-Victory for Freedom of Speech

A federal court yesterday loosened restrictions on corporations, unions and other special interest groups that run political advertising in peak election season, ruling that such groups may mention candidates by name in commercials as long as they are trying to influence public policy, rather than sway an election. The case involved a challenge to the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law which banned such groups from using unrestricted money to run advertisements that name candidates two months before a general election or one month before a primary. McCain-Feingold was an anti-First Amendment incumbent-protection law designed to restrict campaign speech. The court should have ruled that any restrictions on what any individual or group could say in a campaign ad was anathema to the basic founding principles of America.

Here's the Associated Press story on the ruling. The Los Angeles Times says the ruling cuts "the first hole" in McCain-Feingold and "sets the stage for the Supreme Court to reconsider" that law.

With its story, the Washington Post seems to accept the odd notion that federal government ought to regulate the content of campaign ads but not "issue advocacy" ads aired during campaign season.

Update: See a longer, better, new-and-improver version of this post over at ElephantBiz.com.

Earmarks Not the Big Problem, Blackburn Says

Today we are debating a federal spending issue - whether earmarks and special project funding ought to be banned and that money turned over to agency bureaucrats to spend. Some argue that giving bureaucrats control and eliminating all earmarks would help us balance the budget. The facts, though, show that earmark reform has been used as a red herring to distract attention from the larger problem. In fiscal year 2006, we spent $33 billion on earmarks while mandatory spending consumed $1.4 trillion. Are earmarks a problem? Indeed, some are, but not all. The figures reveal the reality. Mandatory spending programs that receive automatic funding increases are the crux of the problem. We are nibbling around the edges by focusing so much attention on earmarks and so little on mandatory spending. - U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, in an op-ed in the Friday Tennessean that makes a lot more sense than the paper's own editorial on the subject.

U.S. Rep. John Tanner also weighs in with an op-ed that seems to say, "Earmarks are bad except the earmarks I put in the budget."

And while it opines against earmarks this week, last week The Tennessean was bemoaning the earmarks moratorium because it put $330 million in federal funds for a slew of Tennessee projects, including some $160 million in Middle Tennessee, "in danger."

December 21, 2006

Global Warming Smothers Denver

Two feet of snow in Denver and as much as three feet total predicted. Such blizzards are somewhat uncommon in Denver - the last was in April 2003. The Rocky Mountain just west of the city do get a lot of snow, but a weather effect called orographic lift usually dries out the air passing over the Front Range, protecting Denver from large-scale precipitation for much of the winter. Denver's snowiest month is March. Here's a Denver blogger with photos. Many more Denver Holiday '06 Blizzard photos at Flickr. Some - like this one taken in downtown Denver, and this one - are quite amazing. Also, here's a Denver blizzard video on YouTube.

Blizzard or no, I still wouldn't mind living there. Except for the occasional blizzard, Denver's winters are pleasant - winter days generally mean warm sun and crisp air. Compare that to the gray skies that mark much of a Nashville winter. Snow falls infrequently in Denver and usually disappears quickly. The Mile High City boasts an average 300 days of sunshine a year - more than Nashville, which has just 205.

Update: The blizzard is an el Nino thing.

Trunk Show

Over at ElephantBiz.com today: Can the political strategist who successfully moved Gov. Schwarzenegger's political image to the left to win re-election now move Sen. McCain's image to the right to win the GOP presidential nomination? Also, a profile of McCain's chief campaign political strategist, a combative sort who once worked for Democratic clients.

Even The Indicted Ones Get a Pay Raise!

As the Tennessee General Assembly prepares to return to work in January, the Knoxville News Sentinel details their compensation. Even indicted legislators like state Sen. Ward Crutchfield get a small pay increase this year!

December 20, 2006

Considering A Christmas Card

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen's decision to put a painting of a Muslim girl on the cover of his Christmas card caused a lot of discussion around the blogosphere, but none better than Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters. Read it here.

VY Learns on the Fly

Of all the stories I've read recently about The Most Exciting Player in the NFL, the story by by ESPN writer Michael Smith, VY Learns, Leads, Wins on the Fly, is by far the best. Instead of rehashing Vince Young's college heroics or how his hometown team the Houston Texans didn't draft him, Smith looks at how VY is handling his education as an NFL quarterback.

An Energetic New Blog

I'll be blogging about alternative energy news and issues for Phoenix-based Ecotality Inc., for at least the next six months. I don't write much about alternative energy here at BillHobbs.com, but it is something I read a lot about and follow the news on - and consider success vital in terms of both our economic security and the global war on terror. Yes, writing for the Ecotality blog is a paid gig. No, they don't control what I write (though, of course, if I was opposed to the develoment of alternatives to oil or just a total technology Luddite, they wouldn't have me writing there). Click the logo to see the blog. I'll be posting there daily.

State Seeks To Attract More Potential TennCare Enrollees

The state of Tennessee has launched a new website, Retire Tennessee, to attract more retirees to move to Tennessee. The site site features Tennessee's amenities and information about climate, geography, cost of living and visiting the state.

"Spending by retirees creates jobs and opportunities that can bring new wealth to local economies," Tennessee Economic & Community Development Commissioner Matthew Kisber said in a news release. "The state recognizes retiree migration as a growing industry and we hope retirees will utilize this program to learn more about our state and the benefits of choosing Tennessee as a retirement destination."

Now, I'd love to have my mom and dad living here in Tennessee, but is it really a good idea for the state economic development office to promote Tennessee as a retirement haven? I know the senior demographic is the nation's wealthiest, and that retirees can fuel economic growth. But ... won't many of these retirees wind up on TennCare? Will more retirees generate sufficient additional tax revenues to cover that cost - and the additional costs for other governmental services - or will taxpayers wind up bearing increased costs if Tennessee successfully attracts more retirees?

Small Business Lobby Sets Legislative Agenda

The Tennessee branch of the National Federation of Independent Business, Tennessee's leading small-business advocacy group, has announced its legislative agenda for 2007. Info here.

Guide to Nashville

The 2007 edition of the annual Guide to Nashville magazine sponsored by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce is now available online at www.imagesnashville.com. The "Virtual Magazine" feature - a/k/a "digital flip book" - is kind of cool, too. They didn't do that back in the mid-1990s when I wrote the bulk of the copy for the magazine one year.

The Thanks of a Grateful Blogger

I'll be blogging less here over the next few weeks as 2006 winds towards its end, winding down some and also focusing on some other projects. I want to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas and a prosperous and happy new year. 2006 has been an eventful year for me, to say the least. I'm hoping for less of a roller-coaster in '07. In case I haven't thanked you yet, I want to thank each and every reader who read my blog during the year, and each and every person who posted a comment or emailed or linked to me from their blog or read something of mine on the radio or got an idea for a news story from something you read here. Thanks also to the guest bloggers who filled in for me some earlier this year. And, finally, thanks also the handful of regular readers who have expressed their thanks and support for my blog via dropping a little something in the Amazon or PayPal tipjars. This blog isn't how I make my living, but it's nice to be appreciated - and to get a little help with the monthly hosting charges.

Trunk Show

Over at ElephantBiz.com today, a look at the question, "Can Rudy Win?", and a second post noting that polls overall give former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani a slight but consistent lead in the race for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. Also, Mitt's Media Mission, and Romney Hires a Blogger - no, not me. Look for more good stuff at ElephantBiz.com later today...

December 19, 2006

Romney Reaction

Jonathan Martin at NRO's The Corner has a very interesting analysis of the media motivations that may explain Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's recent foray to Nashville, which I attended and blogged both here and at ElephantBiz.com.

Martin writes:

What was more interesting about the event was the guest list - not only did it include the usual assortment of state Rep's and Members of Congress, but also two bloggers and a conservative radio talk show host. This comes on the heels of Romney's attempts to push back on the recent revelations about his past stances on abortion and gay rights via us at NRO and FOX News. Bypassing "the filter" for what are viewed as more friendly mediums is, of course, nothing new (Romney makes plain his pleasure at the Old Media-New Media shift in the penultimate 'graf of a story carried by, not incidentally, his chief Old Media tormentor).

Still, it is remarkable that Romney would reach out to bloggers and a conservative radio personality for such a private event. Such pre-announcement affairs where donors and activists are courted and cultivated have almost always been kept under wraps and out of public view by campaigns that haven't yet officially started. If a candidate wanted a press hit from his stop in the area, he'd usually pay a visit to local paper; that was the most effective way to get your message out. But the times are a changin.'

Now instead of getting 750 words of "If I Should Decide To Run..." in the Tennessean, we have Romney talking up his efforts to build up a national finance base and explaining why he doesn't do Sunday talk shows.

My favorite candidate will be whichever one is the most hawkish on a few core issues. On the domestic front, that means limited government, less regulation, lower taxes and freer trade. On the international front that means being strong on defense, hawkish on the global war on terror, and determined to get control of our borders by any means necessary.

Repealing the First Amendment One Step at a Time

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is anti-First Amendment.

Will the Senate Pick Wilder Again?

The Tuesday Tennessean has a report on a story that broke first on the blogs Monday, the challenge by state Sen. Joe Haynes to the continuation of Sen. John Wilder as Speaker of the Senate and Lt. Governor. The Nashville City Paper's story today is better and more detailed, and they have a good editorial on the situation too.

Here is VolunteerVoters.com's complete roundup yesterday of coverage and analysis yesterday from the blogs.

Meanwhile, to see Sen. Wilder in action, click the play button on the video screen.

December 18, 2006

Trunk Show

Over at ElephantBiz.com today, a look at the growing power of online campaign fundraising. Also, while Mitt Romney courts Republicans in Nashville, Rudy Guiliani is seeking to woo California conservatives - and tap into the West Coast money machine.

Person of the Year: Me!

Time magazine has announced its "Person of the Year" and, incredibly, it is me. William Beutler predicted as much.

LgDb.com Makes Tracking Tennessee Legislation Easier than Ever

LgDb.com, which bills itself as "the USA's best legislative database," emailed today to say that it has added bill data from the Tennessee General Assembly to its fast-growing Legislative Database as of today. A company rep says the site is "updated daily and more often if needed." Also, LgDb will be operating in all 50 states by January.

Now anyone interested in legislation going through the statehouse in Nashville can search for free on LgDb.com. The full text of the bill is there, along with easy links to sponsors and more. If users want the security of knowing they are looking at the official state version of the bill, there's a link to that, too, on each bill's page on LgDb.com. This means that anyone can search on LgDb.com rather than search on the state's page, and still see the text of the bill from the state, and then quickly find similar bills in other states, or contact information for bill sponsors.

For the professional there's much more. Lobbyists can set up bill sheets, adding just the bills they want and letting LgDb update the status of each bill. LgDb Pro subscribers can also set up stakeholder groups, dramatically improving communication among Legislative Advisory Committees. LgDb Pro subscribers can also choose the option of displaying their bill sheet on their own web page, so that associations and membership groups can keep members informed all the time, rather than with a monthly newsletter.

Visit tht LgDb.com home page and you'll see a prominent link titled Writers, Editors, Bloggers. It links to a page headlined "For the Media," which merely asks the media - including bloggers - to credit LgDb.com when appropriate. Nice to see they consider bloggers are part of the media because, well, because we are.

I suspect I'll be using - and crediting - LgDb.com often.

A Coalition to Oust Wilder?

A.C. Kleinheider has a round-up of information and links about the rumor that state Sen. Joe Haynes, D-Goodlettsville, is quietly trying to mount a challenge to Lt. Gov. John Wilder's continued hold on the position of Speaker of the Senate, which puts Wilder a heartbeat from the governor's office. Republicans hold a 17-16 numerical advantage in the state Senate, but one of the 17 Republicans, Michael Williams, is likely to vote for Wilder for Speaker again.

Can Haynes pull it off? I don't know.

But rumors are rampant that some Democrats in the state Senate aren't comfortable with giving the aging and increasingly frail and loopy Wilder another two years as leader. My suggestion: They should look to Alabama, where a group of Democrats in the Alabama state Senate decided to form a coalition with Republicans to oust their leader and replace him with another Democrat. You can read that news story here.

I'd prefer Sen. Williams just voted for Ramsey, and Republicans took control of the state Senate just as the voters of Tennessee intended for them to do. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. But just because Williams votes for Wilder doesn't mean Wilder has to win.

The choice doesn't have to be Wilder or Republican Sen. Ron Ramsey. If Williams indeed plans to vote for Wilder, then Democrats uneasy with Wilder could - and should - offer to form a coalition with Republicans to get 17 votes for a different Democrat, or a different Republican, to be speaker. Whichever party contributes more votes to the coalition would get the majority (by one) of the committee chairmanships, including the chairmanships of the Finance and Judiciary committees. Put the deal on the table that way and I suspect you would see a rush of senators from both parties to join the coalition. In the end you might have 16 Republicans and 15 Democrats voting for Someone Other Than Wilder, and two senators - Williams and Wilder - picking Wilder.

Wilder would have been ousted years ago by Democrats but he kept power by forming a coalition with Republicans. It would only be right for a coalition of Republicans and Democrats to, finally, put him out to pasture.

Are there at least 17 votes in the anti-Wilder caucus - 17 senators willing to come together to do what's right for Tennessee? For the good of Tennessee, one would hope so. If Williams won't vote for Ramsey and Ramsey can't find one Democrat to back him, then a power-sharing coalition that ousts Wilder is the next best option, for Republicans and for the state of Tennessee.

December 17, 2006

Romney in Tennessee

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney made a stop in Tennessee Sunday at a gathering of Republicans at the Brentwood home of newly elected state Sen. Jack Johnson.

I was lucky enough to score an invitation. Among the crowd: state Rep. Brian Kelsey, state Rep. Debra Young Maggart, state Rep. Donna Rowland, state Rep. Glen Casada, statewide conservative radio talker Steve Gill, former U.S. Rep. Van Hilleary, Nashville conservative political blogger Nathan Moore, U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, and many others whose names I either can't recall or don't know. There were about 40 people there, maybe more.

Tennessee isn't an early primary state, but Romney was here because Tennessee favorite-son U.S. Sen. Bill Frist has dropped out of the GOP presidential nomination race, so Tennessee is now in play in the primaries - for both fundraising and votes.

Sunday's event wasn't a fund-raiser, just a chance for those there to get to know Gov. Romney.

Gov. Romney didn't speak for very long, but Romney, running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, talked very effectively about health care and also touched on education and other issues, including the threat America faces from Islamist extremists.

Romney, who at times seems to be channeling some of the speaking mannerisms of Ronald Reagan, stressed the need for Republicans to project optimism in the face of challenges, and also urged Republicans not to cede such issues as health care, education and the environment to Democrats. He noted that Democrats are captive to special interests on those issues, so they can't solve those problems - for example, Democrats are too in the pocket of the teachers' unions to lead any effort at meaningful education reform.

Romney also explained why he doesn't go on the national Sunday political talk shows, saying he doesn't want voters to get tired of seeing him talking about all the same issues all the time, before the primary campaign really heats up. He said he has worked over the last two years to build a financial network to support his presidential campaign, and that is now in place.

Romney and U.S. John McCain are both considered to be ahead of the rest of the potential GOP field in terms of fundraising in what some call the "invisible primary" - the race to raise tens and then hundreds of millions of dollars to fund a campaign.

For more on Romney, there's a Mitt Romney for President blog, and an Americans for Mitt Romney website in addition to Romney's Commonwealth PAC website that I linked to above.

The first primary ballots will be cast in Iowa in fewer than 14 months.

Also posted at ElephantBiz.com...

December 16, 2006

Silver Flowers

My daughter drew this. I though it was pretty cool. On the original, the silver is metallic.

Web Passes Newspapers

Media use has risen every year since the start of the decade, helped by faster and easier ways to get information and entertainment - and the Internet now has moved ahead of newspapers in usage by Americans, according to statistics in a new government report.

Next year, Americans are projected to spend more than 9 1/2 hours a day with the media, though hours spent doing two things at once, such as watching TV and using the Internet, are counted twice in the report. ... Americans spend an average of 4 1/2 hours a day watching TV, far more time than they spend on any other medium. Next come the radio and the Internet. Reading newspapers is fourth, passed this year by Internet use.

I hold a degree in mass communication with an emphasis in print from a very good journalism program, and have worked for a number of daily and weekly newspapers. I love newspapers. I still like to buy a newspaper and read it. But I get most of my news online now. And the younger generation barely touches newspapers at all. As much as I love newspapers, at this point about the only job I'd take in the newspaper industry - other than something like writing a regular political column - would be one helping newspaper transition to the web as its primary news delivery mode.

Much of the Nashville blogospheric talk last week centered on the FCC hearings in Nashville and on the issue of whether the corporate owner of The Tennessean ought to be allowed to buy a local television station. I think they should but, then, I hardly think it will matter if they did. Merging newspapers with broadcasters is yesterday's strategy. What The Tennessean ought to be doing is building its own video-journalism news department, and distributing the content online. There's no FCC regulation against that - and as the Internet becomes more both more technologically capable of carrying video, and more entrenched in people's daily lives, a "newspaper's" online news "broadcast" could thrive.

December 15, 2006

Pressing Upward

Having survived the best shots that both the moderate Knoxville GOP establishment and the Tennessee Democratic Party and Gov. Phil Bredesen could throw at him, state Rep. Stacey Campfield now wants to go on offense - he's looking to find some inexpensive screen printing equipment so he can print small and large campaign yard signs for conservative Republicans running for the state legislature in 2008.

Campfield says his goal is "to print signs and campaign material for conservative candidates FOR COST." He continues: "I am not going into the print business. My goal is not to make money on this or expand into other fields. This will be used to help conservative candidates for elections only."

Campfield, who beat both a moderate GOP-backed primary challenger and then a Democratic challenger backed by the very popular Gov. Bredesen and the very powerful House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, is on the right track here, attempting to do something constructive to help conservative Republicans forge a majority in the state House in the next election cycle.

If you think you have what he needs, please visit his website at this link for contact info.

Camp Update 2

The Baptist & Reflector, the statewide newspaper of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, has published a half-apology by editor Lonnie Wilkey to Lipscomb University theology professor Dr. Lee Camp for a column Wilkey wrote last week criticiing Camp based on a Tennessean newspaper article which took something Dr. Camp said grossly out of context.

For the background read these two posts:
"Brief news stories can seldom do justice to substantive conversations." - Nov. 30
Camp Update - Dec. 1
Judge Not - Dec. 7

I'm calling Wilkey's follow-up a half-apology because, well, because that is what it is. In effect, Wilkey says, "Dr. Camp says he was taken out of context. I don't know if that's true, but if it is, it is Dr. Camp's fault."

The B&R doesn't give readers any quotes from Dr. Camp's response to The Tennessean, but at least Wilkey tells his readers where to find it on the web.

Hat tip: The Refugee Baptist.

December 14, 2006

Who Is Jamil Hussein?

I've been following, but only lightly blogging about, the controversy surrounding an Associated Press report from Iraq that increasingly appears to have been a fabrication. But now it is getting interesting...

Here's the basic facts: The AP published a story Nov. 24 reporting that Shia thugs in Baghdad had "grabbed six Sunnis as they left Friday worship services, doused them with kerosene and burned them alive near Iraqi soldiers who did not intervene." The U.S. military, the Iraqi government, and many others insisted the AP story was false and that the Iraqi police captain quoted in the story, "Jamil Hussein," either was fictitious or was not an Iraqi police officer. Since then, a number of bloggers have exposed other problems with the AP's reporting from Iraq highly suggestive of the possibility that some of the AP's "stringers" in Iraq are actually allied with the insurgency and are feeding the AP false information.

Among the bloggers who have been investigating the AP and looking for Jamil Hussein - and for a shred of legitimate evidence that the incident occurred - have been Curt at FloppingAces.com, and Michelle Malkin.

Yesterday, the story got more interesting when Malkin, noting the re-emergence of the Saddam-coddling former CNN executive Eason Jordan with a new Iraq war news website, IraqSlogger.com, challenged Jordan to find the answer to the question, "Who is Jamil Hussein?"

Jordan responded by posting this:

The search for Jamil Hussein is on, and rightly so. IraqSlogger's team in Baghdad is working to track him down. If we find him, we'll get back to you with details. If we can't find him, we'll report that, too. If Michelle Malkin wants to join the search in Baghdad, IraqSlogger will pay for her trip, and I'd even be willing to accompany her. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, the AP has yet to produce Jamil Hussein, nor show any evidence for its claim in the same story that four mosques in Hurriyah neighborhood of Baghdad were torched during the same incident. Bad news for the AP: Blogging independent journalist Michael Yon is headed to Hurriyah with a camera. If four of its mosques were or weren't burned, we'll have photographic proof soon enough. (And we'll wonder why the AP doesn't give its stringers cameras.)

My prediction: Jamil Hussein won't be found, because he doesn't exist. If Jamil Hussein existed, the AP could and would produce him. In nearly a month of criticism of the story, they haven't produced him, most likely because they can't. Meanwhile, bloggers and other journalists are increasingly digging into the AP's story. Soon, the AP will be shown to have been running false reports from Iraq based on information from Iraqi "stringers" affiliated with the enemy.

When Liberals Attack

This story from the Nashville Scene made me laugh at pretty much every one involved. Someone needs to tell those folks the Sixties ended 36 years ago.

Phil's Blunder

Gov. Phil Bredesen put himself in a box when he rejected a slate of candidates for the open seat on the Tennessee Supreme Court solely because they were white. Read the latest here from John Rodgers and the Nashville City Paper.

December 13, 2006

Trunk Show

Over at ElephantBiz.com today, a look at one reason Tennessee Republicans managed to buck the tide and not lose ground in the state legislature despite the national anti-GOP tide. Also, an intro to a new conservative think tank in liberal Baltimore, plus a report on state politics in Arizona and a little unintended political humor from Wisconsin.

Wilder's Pick: Wilder By A Nose

Lt. Gov. John Wilder, Democrat, predicts he'll be re-elected Speaker of the state Senate even though the Republicans have a 17-16 majority, says a report in today's City Paper. Meanwhile, here is the City Paper story on the GOP caucus leadership elections in the state legislature. Great quote in it from state Rep. Glen Casada, newly elected as House Caucus Chairman, the number 2 position in the House GOP Caucus. Casada has said that the "days are over" for worrying "about whether the Democrats like us or not." Casada will be a thorn in the side of Democratic House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh. And that's a good thing.

On the Senate side, Martin Kennedy reports that state Sen. Randy McNally was blindsided by state Sen. Mark Norris in the race to be chairman of the Senate GOP caucus. Kennedy: "One source tells me that McNally 'never saw it coming.' Apparently he didn't know he was being challenged until about 30 minutes before the election. Norris campaigned efficiently but quietly."

New State Ethics Commission Does Business In Secret

The Tennessean reports that the new state Ethics Commission, set up to be the "watchdogs of government ethics" in Tennessee "may have skirted open meetings laws by discussing business via e-mail."

Members of the state Ethics Commission, which opened for business Oct. 1, discussed privately a pending ruling on which lawyers must register as lobbyists, says Allan Ramsaur, executive director of the Tennessee Bar Association. To top it off, when Ramsaur asked to see all the commissioners' correspondence on the issue, the Ethics Commission declined to show it to him.

Radar Love: A Sao Tome Update

One of the ways the U.S. can win the war on terror is to become less dependent on oil from the terrorist breeding grounds of the Middle East and, while our military situation in Iraq gets most of the media's war coverage, the Bush administation has been taking less-heralded but still vitally important steps to secure better sources for oil. Case in point: The tiny island country of Sao Tome and Principe, located off the west coast of Africa. Reuters reports that the U.S. navy "will install a radar system on the tiny West African archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe to guarantee maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea, a key regional supplier to the U.S. oil market."

A U.S. navy team began evaluating sites on the islands this week for the radar network designed to locate and identify ships in Sao Tomean waters, a U.S. embassy statement said. The estimated cost of training staff, installing and running the system is $18 million, the embassy said. The project is part of a regional program to boost maritime surveillance in the Gulf of Guinea, it added.

In recent years, the United States has increased its military cooperation with Sao Tome, particularly in training and technical assistance, as the region has become a more important supplier of oil to the United States. The Gulf of Guinea, which includes oil producers like Angola, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Congo Republic, Gabon and Cameroon, supplies around 15 percent of U.S. crude oil consumption. That figure is forecast to rise to 25 percent by 2015, as the United States tries to reduce its reliance on Middle Eastern exporters.

Sao Tome and Principe - with a population of just 170,000 - has become one of the latest exploration hotspots in the Gulf of Guinea after U.S. oil major Chevron Corp. announced recently it had discovered oil in a joint development zone. Nigeria owns 60 percent of the zone and Sao Tome controls the rest. Local media have reported diplomatic talks are under way to establish a U.S. naval base on Sao Tome.

December 12, 2006

State House GOP Leadership Picks

A.C. Kleinheider has the news, links and commentary on the state House Republican Caucus' leadership elections. I'm not happy that Bill Dunn lost, but I'm pleased Glen Casada won.

On the Senate side of things, I'm pleased beyond words that Sen. Randy McNally lost his leadership post - and also pleased that he lost it to Sen. Mark Norris. Wes Comer has all you need to know about why McNally lost.

Update: ACK has more on Dunn and Jason Mumpower, who defeated him. Also, Roger Abramson weighs in.

I've long thought Rep. Dunn would do well to write a regular blog on the issues and politics in the legislature - and I've told him so. Now that he's no longer going to be House Minority Leader, maybe he'll do it. You don't have to have the title to be the leader, Rep. Dunn.

Trunk Show

Over at ElephantBiz.com today, a look at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's fiscal record of ballooning city debt, and how it might impact a possible presidential bid. Also, a post on why potential GOP presidential candidates Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and New York Gov. George Pataki both headquartered their political action committees in Virginia.

"Authenticity is The Hallmark of Social Media"

"Authenticity is the hallmark of social media, and it's difficult to be anonymous and authentic at the same time. Blogging, or even commenting, under your real name helps lend credibility to what you bring to the conversation." - Connie Reece at Blogabilities today. Read the whole thing at .

December 11, 2006

The Most Exciting Player in the NFL

My neighbor has some more thoughts about Vince Young.

Follow The Leader

The Tennessean posted an interesting story on its website Monday morning - State offers data online about charities' records - which tells readers how to access the financial reports that charities are required to file with the goverment. The state Division of Charitable Solicitations and Gaming, an office within the Secretary of State's office, is making the reports available online for charities that solicit contributions in Tennessee.

You have to wonder if the story on the newspaper's website was motivated by this blog post by former Tennessean investigative reporter Trent Seibert, who know works for WKRN. In that post, Seibert not only gave readers information about how to access the financial reports for charities, called Form 990s, he also gave a lesson in how to use them, using Vanderbilt University's Form 990 as the example.

Stop Breaking the Law!

Some good news today in the battle to make Tennessee less of a magnet for illegal immigrants - all of the "driver's certificates" that the state of Tennessee stupidly gave to illegals a few years ago are set to expire by the end of March.

Of course, some who think we ought to lay out a welcome mat for illegals think that's a bad thing, reports the Monday Nashville City Paper:

"We've got a perfect storm brewing," immigration attorney Yvette Sebelist said last week at [Sheriff Daron] Hall's first Immigration Advisory Council meeting. "The problem is that we gave these things to people, now they're taken away," Sebelist said Friday. "In a way, we've set them up to be criminals now."

And if they don't want to commit another criminal offense after their "driver's certificate" expires, I have some good advice for them: Don't drive.

It's sound legal advice, by the way. The lawyer played by Jim Carrey in that movie Liar Liar put it another way when one of his criminal clients called for advice on how to avoid arrest and incarceration. Said Carrey, "Stop breaking the law!"

The City Paper continues:

The criminalization of driving without a license is perhaps the single biggest fear of Nashville's immigrant community as it awaits the implementation of Hall's local immigration enforcement plan, called 287(g), said both Sebelist and local immigration attorney Elliott Ozment. For that reason, Ozment, who along with Sebelist is a member of Hall's Advisory Council, said he will propose that in adopting 287(g), the Sheriff's Office limits its immigration inquiries to certain criminal offenses that rise to a certain level of risk to public safety.

Hall, though, said that is unrealistic.

"It's not reasonable or realistic to not print or book people only on certain charges once they are issued a citation for anything," the Sheriff said.

By the way, the City Paper reports that more than 50,000 driving certificates were issued state wide - and more than a fifth of them were issued in Nashville-Davidson County. If they really are worried about being caught driving illegally - and that leading to their deportation, I have another suggestion: Go home. And come back legally.

Filling Shoes

Gov. Phil Bredesen has named the former lobbyist for 1Point Solutions - the corrupt company that may have stolen millions of dollars of people's retirement funds, and whose CEO donated large sums to Bredesen's campaigns and to the Tennessee Democratic Party - as his new Deputy Governor. New Deputy Gov. Stuart Brunson replaces former Deputy Gov. Dave Cooley - the guy who ran the administration's donations-for-promotions scheme in the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Trunk Show

Lots of new stuff over at ElephantBiz.com today, including a look at the early dash for cash in the 2008 GOP presidential primary race - did you know the first votes will be cast just 14 months from now? Also, the future looks bright for ex-members of Congress - and also, perhaps, for an independent presidential bid by Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York.

Also, Tom DeLay has launched a new "Internet-based grassroots organization aimed at raising money and uniting Republican activists" to restore the GOP majority in Congress. Forgive me for saying so, but is Tom DeLay really the guy Republicans want and/or need as the public face of the new Republican insurgency?

I think not.

December 10, 2006

Everything's Blog In Texas

Mike Chapman at Blogabilities writes about the blogosphere's impact on the legislative process.

A Texas legislator has introduced a bill to extend defamation of character protections to the Internet, and I found out about it first where? The Internet.

The Forth Worth Star Telegram reports that Representative Truitt will take the points of view of the bloggers in mind as this issue is addressed during the next session of the Texas Legislature, which convenes in January. Considering that probably only a handful of the bloggers live in Truitt's district, and many of them don't even use their real names, I see Truitt's latest move as just more evidence of the great power of the unknown that exists in the world of social media today.

Read the whole thing. A roaming gnome is involved.

December 9, 2006

Broadway

Downtown Nashville, Dec. 7, 2006.

Accent Philly

There's another one of those online quizzes, one that purports to determine the accent you speak with via a few simple questions. It seems to be accurate. I took the quiz, and it said I had a "Philadelphia" accent. Well, I was born in the Philly suburbs, and lived there until I went to college. I never attained the hard Philly accent you might be familiar with from movies like Rocky - it's my observation that the accent you hear in Rocky is typically a South Philly accent - but I can imitate it pretty well. Still, the online quiz is more right than wrong as my accent, softened by living in Tennessee since 1982, except for three years in Texas), certainly does have a Philadelphia foundation.

Now if I could just find a source for authentic Philly cheesesteaks, complete with bread from Amoroso's... As far as I'm concerned, it ain't an authentic Philly cheesesteak if the bread isn't from Amoroso's.

Trunk Show

Over at ElephantBiz.com today: the coming billion-dollar presidential campaign of 2008, even though money doesn't always determine the winner. Also, Phil Gramm, architect of the Reagan-era tax cuts that authored an economic boom, resurfaces.

Shooting the Messenger

Michelle Malkin has been digging into the Associated Press's false stories coming out of Iraq and its use of "sources" that are connected with the insurgents and terrorists. The AP, rather than admit its journalistic failures and investigate itself, is attacking bloggers.

December 8, 2006

Trunk Show

Today's posts at ElephantBiz.com include a discussion of the presidential prospects of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and a look at U.S. Sen. John McCain's pick to head his 2008 presidential campaign. Also over at the Trunk Show: Are political campaigns too negative and too cookie-cutter?.

In Sympathy With a Cop Killer

A.C. Kleinheider says U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, did the right thing Wednesday when he voted against a non-binding resolution condemning the decision by the city of St. Denis, France, to name a street in honor of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the convicted murderer of Philadelphia Police Officer Danny Faulkner.

ACK says Cooper did the right thing because "non-binding resolution are quite inane." ACK is wrong.

If Cooper is against Congress wasting its time considering "non-binding resolutions," then he ought to introduce legislation or propose a House rules-change to that effect. What he did Wednesday was to cast a vote that is an insult to Mumia Abu-Jamal's victim, police officer Danny Faulkner, and a pointless gift to the "Free Mumia!" idiots of America's extremist Left.

For more on Mumia and his connections to one of America's worst homegrown leftist terrorist groups, click here. Also, if you want a t-shirt that expresses my views on Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Left's "Free Mumia!" idiocy, click here.

December 7, 2006

An Army of Seiberts

WKRN investigative reporter Trent Seibert is teaching bloggers how to do original investigative reporting. I'll let Seibert explain, and then add a few comments of my own:

But, to me, there are too few bloggers doing original reporting... or even additional reporting to breaking stories. Don't get me wrong, some bloggers dig, break news and post reporting you won't see anywhere else. ... Frankly, I'd like to see more original reporting on blogs. Part of that reason is selfish - I mine blogs all the time for story ideas. The other part is that, if they choose, all citizens - not just professional journalists - can use the First Amendment, the Freedom of Information Act, and the state's pubic records laws to shed light on government, education and business.

Judge Not

The Refugee Baptist takes Tennessee Baptist Convention spokesjournalist Lonnie Wilkey to task for slamming a Lipscomb University professor over remarks that were badly mis-reported and taken out of context by The Tennessean last week.

Writes The Refugee Baptist:

Without checking his facts first, Lonnie (and others) re-gurgitated the misinformation, insulted Dr. Camp, and then broadcast it in print to Baptists in the state of Tennessee. ... Here is some Good Advice: If someone in Christendom is quoted in the newspaper as saying something that sounds completely outrageous. Go. Phone. Email. Ask the individual if, indeed, that is what they actually said.

By the way, it has been a week since I emailed the Tennessean reporter who wrote the erroneous story and also three of the paper's top editors seeking additional information about how the story was produced. They have not responded, nor published a correction/retraction of the story, nor publicly apologized to Dr. Camp. A daily newspaper ought to be accountable to the people it serves. Accountability requires honesty and transparency but, so far, on this story, we're not getting either of those from 1100 Broadway.

See Also: A discussion about the Lee Camp quote on the Grace-Centered Message forum, which includes comments from people who were at the forum at which Dr. Camp spoke.

Texas Titans

Tennessee Titans QB Vince Young is so popular that the CBS affiliate in Austin, Texas, where Young lead the University of Texas Longhorns to a national championship, is now showing Titans games on Sunday rather than games featuring the Houston Texans.

The Austin American Statesman reports:

Young's popularity did not take a hit when he left to go east. Even KEYE has bought in to the charisma that VY exudes from Tennessee. In recent years, it was a given that NFL viewers in Austin would get the Texans on the CBS affiliate most every Sunday. Not anymore. The Titans appear to be the team of choice now.

Barn

I photographed this barn south of Franklin, Tennessee, about a year ago. It's located at the corner of Coleman Road and Highway 31, sandwiched on a narrow piece of farmland between Highway 31 and a CSX railroad track. Click to enlarge.

December 6, 2006

Scene Picks On Wilder

The left-leaning Nashville Scene would rather have a Republican leading the state Senate than Democrat John Wilder, calling Wilder "perfectly awful."

Protest

The First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University has a very interesting in-house exhibition of photographs, paintings and other items related to the history of political protest through American history, from pre-Revolutionary War incidents such as the Boston Massacre to modern-day political demonstrations. The exhibition, called Protest: The Power of Petition and Assembly in American Society, is described as "an overview of the rights to petition and assemble as they have been practiced by generations of Americans from the Revolutionary War through the civil rights movement to the 2001 presidential inauguration."

I searched the organization's website but found no information about it - no news release or online "brochure" to link you to. Just trust me on this one - if politics and free speech are important to you and you're into the history of such things, head on over. It is worth the trip.

The First Amendment Center published a pretty good piece on the First Amendment rights of bloggers a year ago, though I don't agree with the authors' apparent belief that bloggers aren't "journalists" and therefore might not be eligible for the same legal protections. The First Amendment wasn't a special right created for journalists - it was written to protect the right of all Americans to speak, publish, worship and assemble freely and to petition their government for redress of grievances.

Bloggers are journalists when they do journalism, whether they get paid for it or not.

Update: WKRN investigative reporter Trent Seibert in the comments below recommends the book Infamous Scribblers: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism, by Eric Burns, saying, "the parallels to those pioneers and today's bloggers are uncanny."

You can purchase the book at Amazon.

Brilliant Sunset

I took these photos Sunday afternoon along Highway 31 between Franklin and Spring Hill, Tennessee.