July 31, 2005

Confusing the Issue

I can't tell if Larry Daughtrey is for or against the Supreme Court's recent decision in Kelo v. New London, but it's rather obvious from The Tennessean columnist's latest commentary that he doesn't fully understand the decision. If he did, he wouldn't write a sentence like this:

In essence the court upheld the status quo since it said states and cities can use eminent domain however they wish.

Before Kelo, states and cities could take private property for "public use" or "public purpose" - or for redevelopment if the property was "blighted." What Kelo did was strip those phrases of all meaning - "public purpose" can now mean anything the state or city decides it wants it to mean. And your property does not have to be "blighted" to be taken.

In the Kelo case, the city of New London, Conn., decided that increasing tax revenue by taking several well-maintained middle class homes and giving them to a private developer who would build something else on the site and pay higher property tax was a "public purpose."

The fallout of the ruling is that your local or state government can now auction off your property to the highest bidder, with the blessing of the Supreme Court.

Lance Frizzell emails to note, too, that Daughtrey managed to slip a "whopper" into his column, when he wrote the following:

As usual, when the legislature rushes into things to curry public favor, it risks the law of unintended consequences. No one wants to condemn someone's farm to give Wal-Mart more space, but what about industrial parks? And, in a time of diminishing tax revenues, public-private developments (such as Nashville's new ballpark) are increasingly common.

One other problem with that paragraph: the proposed Nashville Sounds ballpark that Daughtrey uses as an example of a "public-private" partnership did't involve eminent domain. The plan would redevelop the site of the old Nashville Thermal Transfer plant - land the city already owned.

A Hooker You Can't Help But Love

John Jay Hooker is refusing to back down.

Where Frist Really Stands on Stem Cell Research

Matt White has a long, detailed and very thoughtful postabout Sen. Bill Frist's stem cell research announcement. You'll be shocked to learn that the mainstream media's portrayal of Frist's announcement was not quite as nuanced, detailed and thoughtful as Frist's announcement was...

Talking heads have been all over every media outlet in America handicapping how this decision will affect Sen. Frist's presidential future. Perhaps my idealism is getting the best of me, but I can't see how risking alienation from an important segment of Republican primary voters makes for good presidential politics. Bill Frist made this decision as a physician; as a leader. And isn't that the absolute best we can ask of a politician? For four years, he has debated with scientists, ethicists, advocates and anyone else who had a viewpoint. He applied his training and his instincts to heal to a problem of enormous signficance and difficulty. In the end, he made a hard decision that, if anything, will be a tall hurdle in the run to the White House. To my friends who would change their view of Senator Frist in light of his announcement, I ask you, since when did we ask our leaders to check their intellect at the door in favor of blind ideological purity? Forgive me if I don't join in as you try to throw him under a bus.

That's good advice, especially with an issue as complicated as this. The media - newspapers and broadcast - are rather unable to fully convey the complexity of the issue or of Frist's remarks, so they focus mainly in the political implications for Frist's 2008 presidential run, and the conflict between his position and that of the president. Doing what bloggers do well, Matt delves much deeper into the issue.

A Nashville Bloggers Survey

Terry Heaton has written up his survey of Nashville bloggers about the WKRN/NashvilleIsTalking.com experiment in fusing mainstream media with the blogosphere...

Mainstream media that play in this space need to first understand that the blogging community doesn't need them, and that humbling reality is what needs to guide strategies and tactics as they work to get involved. The Nashville blogosphere is now five times larger than it was when the station first began its involvement, and I think it's safe to say they've played a role in encouraging that growth.

How? Simply by listening. Who knew?

Along the way, station personnel have discovered something they didn't expect: getting to know the local blogging community is a lot more fun than you can possibly imagine up front. And frankly, folks, fun isn't a word that's been associated with local media for a long, long time. How do you put a value on that?

UPDATE: I was just on the WKRN home page and noticed a link to a blog by Todd Dunn, a News 2 video shooter who is now blogging his transformation into a videojournalist or "VJ." His blog introductory post a few weeks ago:

I have started a blog to keep a public diary of the evolution of my career from television news photojournalist into a television video journalist or vj. If you are wondering "what is a vj?" the short answer to that question is a person who works as a one-man band, reporting, shooting and editing a news story. I have worked as a TV news photojournalist working with a reporter and being primarily responsible for shooting and editing daily news stories for eleven years.

I work at WKRN News 2 is Nashville, TN where the whole station is converting to the non-traditional vj format, which is more than a little scary. News 2 will be the first station in the country to completely switch to this format. I guess a lot of the fear is of the unknown, will I be able to adjust, will the vj concept succeed and will I still have a job in six months?! are just a few of the many fears that are knocking around in my head. The management of the station has done a good job of reassuring our staff that the vj concept will work but there are a lot of people who are very skeptical.

I know there will be a lot of people watching the transformation to see how it turns out. I am excited about the new opportunity and hope it goes well.

I wanted to thank everyone who has taken the time to comment and share constructive criticism. I will admit it is a little strange to have the feedback. I have never had to deal with it before because it has always been a reporters story and I just went home. Please keep it coming though, and with your advice and some hard work on my part I will be able to get better.

I'm Back

Well, I had loads of fun guest-blogging over at NashvilleIsTalking.com. I've never guest-blogged before, and I gotta tell ya, it's an interesting experience. A few of the 24 posts I posted Saturday and Sunday were identical to what I would have posted here - I'll probably copy some of those here tomorrow - but most were things I'd only write for that blog, given that my role there was, in part, to highlight various Nashville bloggers.

Guest-blogging on someone else's site, it seems to me, entails a duty to respect the host blogger's mission, and not act is if you own the place.

Because NashvilleIsTalking.com is supposed to function as a clearinghouse for all kinds of Nashville blogs - political, non-political, left, right, serious, unserious - being the guest-blogger forced me to look at and link to blogs I'd never look at or link to here.

I've been doing this site so long that I fear it has become very formulaic. I have a long blogroll here, but - truthfully - I rarely click more than 10 of those links anymore. I ought to change that - because it most certainly means I'm missing out on some good stuff and missing the chance to share it with my readers. So, I'm optimistic that venturing out to NIT for a few days will impact this site in a positive way.

And if you followed me over to NIT this weekend, I hope you enjoyed what I did there. I know I did. And the $500 Mike Sechrist is paying his weekend guest-bloggers sure is nice too. ;-)

July 29, 2005

IAmNashvilleIsTalking.com

I'm guest-blogging at NashvilleIsTalking.com over the weekend. I promise to not try to be as funny as Tim Morgan. Trust me, that's to your benefit.

Sponge Bob

Chattanooga Pulse, that city's alt-weekly paper, has put Senate candidate Bob Corker on its cover this week. Well, sort of...

Corker’s opponents have not forgotten the candidate who during his 1994 senate run (which he eventually lost to Frist) said he viewed abortion “as a personal issue, not a government issue.”

"[Bob’s] got a problem," top Bryant advisor Sonny Scott said last week. "He’s in a conservative Republican primary, in a conservative state, and he’s trying to pretend that he didn’t run left of Bill Frist on abortion a decade ago and that if he spends enough money, people will believe that he is hard right pro-life. But he’s not going to be able to spend this away.

"Voters don’t like dishonest people, regardless of what side of an issues they’re on," Scott said. "And that’s the danger of Bob Corker; he’s misleading about his record and he’s becoming a liability in this election. We’re just trying to get Bob to stop hiding behind his checkbook and start providing some answers," he added.

On one super-hot issue, it took Corker an entire month to come out against the Supreme Court's Kelo decision granting government virtually unlimited power to seize private property and give it to another owner, such as a wealthy real estate developer, for any reason the government deems valid - and, even then, Corker's vapid response showed little real understanding of the issue or deep-seated committment to fix it if he is elected to the U.S. Senate.

You'd think a wealthy real estate developer running for the Senate would have had a little more to say about Kelo than that.

Davis Vulnerable? Probably Not

Roll Call wonders if U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, the two-term Democrat from Tennessee's fourth congressional district, might be vulnerable to a Republican challenge next year. The article is for Roll Call subscribers only. I've read it and the gist of it is that Tennessee as a whole is trending more Republican, and President Bush won in the fourth district in 2004 by a wide margin - and Davis voted for the ultra-liberal Nancy Pelosi for House Democratic Leader, which won't "sit well" with the district's conservatives.

I'm not entirely convinced. Until voters of the fourth district see a disconnect between Davis's God-and-guns conservative rhetoric and his DC voting record, he's going to be difficult to beat.

Of course, Davis most certainly ought to face a well-funded GOP challenger, just in case I'm wrong.

The previous congressman from the fourth district, Van Hilleary, could beat Davis, but Hilleary's living in the sixth district now and, though he is raising funds for a Senate run, is rumored to be either considering or being encouraged to consider running against the sixth district's Democratic incumbent, Rep. Bart Gordon - as the sixth district also is trending more Republican these days.

Bongo Blogging

After several days of oppressive heat that kept me inside as much as possible - limiting my lunch options - it's a perfectly perfect day , so I walked to Bongo Java for lunch - and free wi-fi. Every third person here is using their laptop while lunching or sipping one of Bongo's java creations. I stopped drinking coffee around Thanksgiving of '04, but I still enjoy a good coffee shop. I recommend the Bongo Gobbler - grilled - by the way.

Monkey Media

I meant to get to this last week, but simply forgot. Last Thursday was the 80th anniversary of the famed "Scopes Monkey Trial," in Dayton, Tenn., immortalized in the film Inherit the Wind. Except, the movie got the history entirely wrong - and that's a problem as today's journalists view the debate over evolution theory, intelligent design theory and public education through the lens of that film, says Jonathan Witt, PhD., senior fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture...

Eighty years ago Thursday the famous Scopes Monkey Trial ended in Dayton, Tennessee. Time for a quiz:

History tells us that two great lawyers faced off. On the one side was (A) a progressive and a pacifist, an educated man who rejected the idea of a young earth and worried about efforts to peddle racism and eugenics in the South. On the other side was (B) a master orator who defended some flagrantly racist ideas long since discredited by science. Lawyer A sought a full and fair debate over the evidence. Lawyer B used a procedural tactic to shut down the debate so that only his position was heard.

Surely Mr. A would be the darling of any contemporary liberal journalist, right? But Mr. A was William Jennings Bryan, the creationist.

That's right. And Mr. B was Clarence Darrow, arguing for Darwinism and a textbook that explicitly promoted both racism and eugenics on Darwinian grounds--A Civic Biology Presented in Problems, by George William Hunter.

Do we learn that from Inherit the Wind, the Spencer Tracey film based on the play based on what some evolutionist somewhere wished had happened at the trial? Of course not.

But for many journalists, Inherit the Wind is The Scopes Monkey Trial. Worse, as Phillip Johnson explains, the film's cartoonish depiction of the trial has become the lens through which reporters see today's debate over neo-Darwinism.

Thus, anyone who promotes Darwinism must be the soulmate of Spencer Tracey, the film's voice of enlightened rationality. There is a parallel here, but not the one we usually hear. As noted above, the Spencer Tracey character's model, Clarence Darrow, used a procedural tactic to prevent Bryan from cross-examining him about Darwinism; likewise, today's ultra-Darwinists malign Discovery Institute for urging schools to teach both the strengths and weaknesses of Darwinism so that students can critically analyze the theory.

Has anyone from the MSM ever reported that striking parallel? No, because it doesn't fit their rusty science vs. religion boilerplate. Thus, when an accomplished biologist like Italian geneticist Guiseppe Sermonti urges American public schools to dump bogus evidence for Darwinism and teach the controversy, he must be a narrow minded Bible thumping Southern fundamentalist in disguise because ... because ... well because Inherit the Wind said so.

The film sowed a lot of hot air. The question is, when will reporters begin to harvest from a better field?

Power Cycles

How much power does it take to finish the Tour de France? A lot, says Wired...

The Tour de France is routinely called the hardest sporting event on the planet, and by most measures, it's undeniably true. No other event demands so much aerobic effort day after day, for three weeks and more than 2,100 miles of riding. But it's never been easy to say exactly how hard the Tour is. The riders tear across the French countryside at scorching speeds and scale unfathomable mountain passes, but, really, just how much work do they do?

This year, we found out. Floyd Landis, a former teammate of Lance Armstrong's who now rides for the Swiss Phonak team, embarked on an experiment.

Landis rode the Tour using a piece of equipment, made by a company called CycleOps, that allowed him to precisely measure his power output through each stage of the Tour, down to the watt. And what's more, he and his personal coach, Allen Lim, published the results online.

Landis' power output was measured through a special rear-wheel hub, which gauged the torque generated by the force Landis put on the pedals. That torque measurement and the speed that the wheel turned let the system calculate the power generated, which is measured in watts.

On his way to a ninth-place finish, Landis spent nearly four hours of the Tour at a power output level of more than 500 watts -- that's a flat-out sprint to most recreational riders, who can only generate that sort of power for seconds at a time. For professionals, it's the ability to ride at this nearly superhuman level that separates champions from the rest of the pack.

"Professional riders are different than you and me," said Sovndal. "They can spend time over their anaerobic threshold, but then recover and be able to come back and keep riding. They can do a 10-minute surge, and then drop back down right below their threshold and recover. For regular riders, once you've crossed that threshold, you can't recover."

Armstrong, unsurprisingly, is one of the great human bicycle engines of all time. According to a seven-year study of Armstrong by Edward Coyle at the University of Texas, Armstrong can simply put out more power without crossing his lactate threshold than other riders, which means he can ride harder, longer.

"The difference is that Lance is still below his threshold while a guy like Floyd is above it," said Sovndal.

And that's how you win seven Tours in a row.

By the way, Floyd Landis has a blog.

Wired War

The August issue of Wired has an excellent story by John Hockenberry on military bloggers. Mudville Gazette, Thunder 6 and other great mil-blogs are mentioned and profiled. It isn't online yet, but will be on August 4, according to the website. You don't have to wait for the digital version of course, as Wired is also distributed on thin slabs of dead trees.

Just Haggling Over The Price?

The Tennessean's editorial page today rakes state Rep. Lois DeBerry over the coals for the ethical lapse that lead her to resign from her newly appointed position as co-chair of a new joint committee on ethics.

DeBerry has not been charged, but she certainly violated ethical standards for a legislator. At least she was smart enough to step down yesterday from her position as co-chair of the joint ethics committee — even after Speaker Jimmy Naifeh offered a laughable defense of her. Lawmakers need to understand that Tennesseans expect those who'll lead ethics discussions to be leaders by example.

DeBerry has been a powerhouse, the first black woman in a House leadership position. She has the respect of her colleagues on many issues. And that's exactly why so much is expected of a legislator who has attained her level of achievement.

Particularly with the legislature certain to take up ethics, House Democrats need someone who can walk the walk and talk the talk. A lawmaker who'll casually accept a $200 gift for the slots doesn't need to be leading the discussion. It's tawdry business that ill becomes DeBerry.

I'll only quibble with the editorial on two points. First, DeBerry did not "unwittingly" take the money. She did so willingly. Second, the paper notes that DeBerry "was quoted in the Commercial Appeal as saying she didn't discuss legislation or promise anything in exchange for the money," and accepts that claim as true - but, as The Tennessean's Trent Seibert revealed yesterday, DeBerry lied to the paper during an interview a few weeks ago when she said she said she had taken no cash from E-Cycle, the fake company at the heart of the FBI sting Operation Tennessee Waltz, which nailed four other lawmakers on federal corruption charges.

DeBerry lied to The Tennessean two weeks ago. Might she be lying now? House Bill 0037, the legislation some lawmakers are on video accepting alleged bribe to support, passed through several House committees. Is DeBerry on any of those committees? Did she vote for the bill in any committee? Did those votes come before or after she accepted cash from the E-Cycle representative? Inquiring minds want to know...

July 28, 2005

Snaps

This is the single most brilliant and on-target commentary about the mainstream media's clueless attempts to co-opt blogging that I have ever read. A grand-slam homerun at the bottom of the ninth, trailing by three, in the seventh game of the world series, with two outs.

I wish I'd written it.

Lying is Unethical, Too.

State Rep. Lois DeBerry, co-chairman of the legislature's new Joint Committee on Ethics, now admits she took $200 in cash from a representative of the same company that bribed lawmakers in the FBI sting Operation Tennessee Waltz. She says she gambled the money away in the nickel slot machines down at Tunica.

House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh is defending her, saying she shouldn't have to step down from the Ethics committee because he knows that in her heart she did nothing wrong.

But she did, Mr. Naifeh. She lied about it:

DeBerry on Tuesday told a Memphis newspaper that she took the money from an agent of E-Cycle Management — the shill company the FBI used in its bribery sting — and fed it into nickel slots during a trip to the Grand Casino in Tunica, Miss.

The Memphis Democrat's comments are a reversal of what she told The Tennessean two weeks earlier, that she had taken no cash from the company.

"No, no," DeBerry said in an unpublished July 13 interview. "I mean, cash would have been a red flag anyway. And you learn from other people that have gone through this kind of stuff and you know that anytime somebody offers you cash, that a red flag that should have gone up."

At a minimum, Rep. DeBerry ought to resign from the ethics committee.

UPDATE: Matt White writes:

She's in session, voting on legislation and taking money from a man she knows to have an interest in her vote. Then she lies about it and now for reasons unknown (maybe she thinks everyone is on vaction and won't notice) she decides to come clean. But Jimmy Naifeh says she's going to stay on the ethics panel. Sleep well tonight, my fellow Tennesseans the fox is guarding the henhouse.

UPDATE: DeBerry has resigned from the ethics committee. Michael Silence blogs the AP story here. She resigned a day after Naifeh defended her, which makes Naifeh look foolish. He should have called for her resignation, not defended her.

Money Talks

Blogging for Bryant dissects a press release from the Van Hilleary campaign touting Hilleary as the consensus conservative candidate in the 2006 Senate race because of his fundraising success. Except, er, Bryant is actually doing much better than Hilleary in the fundraising department. Read the whole thing.

July 27, 2005

The Past - and Future - of the Round Table

The newest issue of the Nashville Scene has an inside look at the demise and possible revival of the radio show Teddy Bart's Round Table. Bruce Barry has further thoughts - and the link the the story - here.

Playing Games

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that State Revenue Commissioner Loren Chumley said yesterday the state expects to have a surplus above $100 million when the books are closed on the 2004-05 fiscal year. Chumley, speaking to the Rotary Club of Knoxville, attributed the windfall to a boost in business taxes, specifically franchise and excise taxes.

That's strange.

At the end of June, with 11 months of revenue in hand, the state's revenue surplus was already approaching $200 million - nearly double what Chumley is claiming - as I reported on July 8:

Tennessee state government continues to pile up a large revenue surplus, adding $92.6 million to that surplus just in the month of June, according to data released by the Department of Finance and Administration at 11 a.m. today. That data shows that, through the first 11 months of revenue collection for the 2004-05 fiscal year, revenue is up $194.5 million more than the budgeted estimate of revenue growth. The budgeted estimate is the amount of money required to balance the fiscal 2004-05 state budget as passed by the legislature in May 2004. However, Gov. Phil Bredesen's administration has already made plans to spend more than the legislature budgeted, which will use up most of the surplus.

When the final revenue total is released, probably around August 12, the proper comparison will be to the budgeted estimate. My prediction: Tennessee's actual revenue surplus for fiscal year 2004-05 will be around $225 million.

Troubles at Home?

Memphis Mike Hollihan says Harold Ford Jr. is having a bit of political trouble in his own backyard. ... Jay Bush has some related thoughts here.

July 26, 2005

Saving The Round Table

The Nashville City Paper reports that the Teddy Bart’s Round Table public affairs radio show "might only be off the air temporarily."

That's because the board of directors of the not-for-profit organization The Public Forum, which owns the show, voted only to cancel the radio show to save money, not to shut down The Public Forum itself.

Chairman of the Board Ted Welch said Monday that the panel voted to cancel just the show and (Karlen) Evins and (Teddy) Bart have the "latitude to do whatever they want to do" with The Public Forum after the board resigns Aug. 15. That could mean the return, in some form, of the radio show if Bart and Evins can find methods to make the program financially stable.

"If (The Public Forum) is still mine, I will find work for (it) because there are far too many people interested in seeing something coming out of this," Evins said.

I never thought airing the show on television a day later made much sense as listeners/viewers can't interact with the show the way Nashvillians can who listen to the show live on WAMB each morning. When the radio show is revived, they should cancel the television re-broadcast and instead focus on distributing the live audio to radio stations around the state, a much cheaper proposition and a way to extend the program's interactive public policy discussion forum statewide.

Additionally, The Public Forum should create daily audio reports based on each day's show, featuring short audio clips from the show, to distribute to radio news programs across the state, and "podcasts" of key parts of the show that people can download to their iPods and Mp3 players from the show's website.

And The Public Forum needs a blog.

Actually, it needs two blogs. The first blog should be a "show blog," which would provide a blog of the day's show, including audio clips, with a comments feature enabled so the audience can continue discussing the show throughout the day.

The second blog should be a group blog where most of the radio show's regular guests are provided a user name and login password so they can, if they chose, continue the day's discussion online, or discuss other public policy issues and news a la National Review's group blog The Corner.

Finally, as a way to really enhance its mission inexpensively, The Public Forum ought to launch a free blog service for state legislators. Wait, you say, Bill Hobbs already did that, with VolPols.com.

Yes I did. But I haven't had the time to really market the service to our state legislators, and although VolPols is designed to be scrupulously non-partisan, my own partisan profile may keep some Democratic state legislators from participating. I would be pleased to turn VolPols over to The Public Forum.

UPDATE: Donald Sensing's comment posted below is so on-target that I've elevated it to be a part of this post. Sensing writes:

I appeared on the show a handful of times beginning in February 2002. I told Karlen and Teddy then that they should start a blog for the show. I can tell you, though, that Karlen was openly, unabashedly contemptuous of both blogging and bloggers and definitely felt very threatened by blogging. Teddy was less overt but apparently equally scornful.

The two definitely come from an "old media" background and consider themselves journalists in the traditional sense. And like oldline media, they saw their radio show as a megaphone for themselves rather than a medium for multi-way communication. The show was modeled on the now-ancient send-receive mode: they send, we receive.

They shunned real-time interactivity with their audience. The only way they would take questions from listeners was via email which was carefully screened (censored) so that the only emails they read on the air were those supporting their views or rebutting their interlocutors' views.

Like all old media, Teddy and Karlen had a death grip on keeping the show and its content under their tight control. Maybe now they will realize that the audience is demanding signficant, if not near-equal input, in real time, into content.

Old media craves the soapbox. an essentially elitist, self-pedastaling position that dismisses the idea that the unwashed, comparitively unenlightened audience actually has anything to contribute other than their time and attention.

If The Public Forum is to revive and then survive, Teddy and Karlen will have to change the way they see their own roles and that of their guests. They must be much less thin-skinned and open to constructive criticism; that they aren't now is another sign of their "old media-ness." They will have to see that a new-media radio show, especially with 3-4 invited guests at roundtable, must be formatted to connect directly the guests with the audience in realtime bilateral conversation. That means de-centering themselves from the show itself, because make no mistake, they definitely see themselves as "stars" to be highlighted daily.

But new media is not about stars or personality. It is about ideas, what they mean and how they can be understood interactively. I am not at all confident that Teddy and Karlen can make that leap. More accurately, I am almost certain Karlen cannot or will not (same thing). Teddy probably can but whether he'll be willing remains to be seen.

The Public Forum's name implies an interactive conversation in which participation is open to all. If Bart and Evins were to actually embrace that theme and recreat the Round Table radio show to incorporate the real-time multi-way no-filters interactivity of the blogosphere, it would thrive. Otherwise, if they manage to track down sufficient funding to revive the show, it will fall well short of its true potential.

July 25, 2005

Tour de Williamson County

If you are a Nashvillian who likes to watch bicycle racing and are despairing now that the Tour de France is over, Lance Armstrong is retired, and the best thing coming up on OLN is five-year-old reruns of Survivor, perhaps you should make plans to watch some local bike races live. Like, perhaps, the Allanti Cycling Classic, including a road race and a time trial in and around scenic Leiper's Fork, and the Bike Pedlar Criterium on a closed course in Franklin. Cash prizes offered total $5,360.

I plan on attending and photographing the races.

Memo to the media: This is the kind of local sporting event that gets zero coverage from big papers and the teevee news stations, but would make for good feature stories with great photographs or video.

Gov. Bredesen's Blog Has A Pulse. Barely.

Gov. Phil Bredesen has posted his third blog entry ever, and the first since May 22, on his underwhelming Phil Blog. He actually posted it back on July 19, but when a blogger only posts something once every two months, you don't get into the habit of checking his blog every day. And, no, his blog still doesn't actually allow readers to post comments or make it easy to email the Guv.

Help The Round Table

Bob Krumm emails: "Bill Fletcher has put out a fundraising call. It's likely the only time I'll give money to one of Fletch's causes. But this is a good cause. I put Fletch's email up on my website. Please pass on the link or add it to your own page."

I second Bob's call, for Fletcher - a take-no-prisoners Democratic political operative - is this time raising money for a good cause.Sve

14er

Randy Elrod celebrates completing his first climb of a "Fourteener," one of the 54 mountains in Colorado whose peaks are at least 14,000 feet high. Nice pictures, too. I really wish I lived in Colorado.

"Vive le Tour. ... Forever."

It's the first day of a new era in the sport of pro cycling as Lance Armstrong is now officially retired after celebrating his record seventh straight victory in the Tour de France yesterday on the Champs-Elysee in Paris.

AP sports columnist Jim Litke says Lance chose the right moment to retire.

PARIS - He stood stock still, right hand covering his heart, and listened to his national anthem being played along the wide boulevard of the Champs-Elysees for a seventh and final time. And just like that, it was over.

The moment Lance Armstrong had alternately dreaded and dreamed about in the deepest reaches of his competitive soul hit him full force. He stared straight ahead and drew his lips tight, the only way he knew to keep the tears from being loosed.

"For you people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the skeptics, I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry you can’t dream big and I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles.

You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets — this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it. There are no secrets. This is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it.

"So, vive le Tour," he paused and added, "Forever."

Having seven times won a three-week 21-stage race that is generally acknowledged to be the world's toughest sporting event, what is Lance's legacy - beyond surging bike sales, of course?

"All he's done since is defeat an insidious disease, repair his ravaged body, become arguably the greatest cycling champion ever, and inspire millions of cancer patients to continue their daily fight," writes John Smallwood, himself a cancer survivor.

Six years ago I was discussing Lance's first Tour de France win with a friend who happens to be in the bicycle business. I'd just read Lance's inspring biography, It's Not About the Bike, and was - and still am - a very big fan of Lance Armstrong. He noted that nowhere in the book did Lance give recognition to God for having survived cancer. It wasn't just good doctors and good drugs and hard human effort that got him through cancer - though all of those played a crucial role. As my friend put it, Lance seemed unaware that "God saved his life, for a reason."

I've thought about that a lot over the past six years as Armstrong continued to win, and realized that you don't have to believe in or acknowledge God for God to be able to use you, powerfully, for good. I don't know if Lance prayed for healing when he was stricken with cancer, but I know I did and I'm sure many others did.

Even though Lance may not realize it, God has been using him powerfully over the last seven years, and not just to win bike races. Lance's legacy is far larger than seven Tour de France victories, though those are enough to rank him as one of the greatest athletes of all time. His amazing achievements in his sport inspire millions of cancer patients and his foundation, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, has raised tens of millions of dollars for cancer research, chiefly through the sale of the those simple $1 yellow "LiveStrong" bracelets. And, as he is only 33, it is a legacy he is still writing, as USA Today's Sal Ruibal reports.

Sports Illustrated's Mike McAllister sums it up pretty well:

Perhaps Armstrong would not have won even one yellow jersey, much less seven, without having to first deal with his life-or-death crisis. Beating cancer certainly gave him a perspective his main competitors could not share. No doubt it made him work a little harder, dig a little deeper those three weeks every summer in France. While others felt pain during a climb up the Pyrenees, did Armstrong consider it a reward for living?

... Tragedy - or rather, overcoming tragic circumstances - may well be the greatest motivational tool of all time. Armstrong, staring at his own mortality, survived. Then thrived. He learned something about the importance of life, of making the most out of each day.

No wonder Armstrong says that his cancer was "the best thing that ever happened to me."

He has made the most out of his seven years in France. For those 21 weeks, 142 stages and 15,205 miles since 1999, he's been at the top of his - and everyone else's - game. But for all of Armstrong's historic achievements, the kicker part is this: It's nowhere near as important as what he might accomplish in the future.

He is, after all, only 33. And God isn't finished with him yet.

July 24, 2005

No Reasonable Offer Refused

Last week, media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. agreed to buy Intermix Media, owner of the popular community website Myspace.com, for $580 million. MySpace had had 17.7 million visitors in June.

Based on those metrics, BillHobbs.com, with 30,000 unique visitors per month, is worth just under $1 million. Offers welcomed...

More on the End of the Round Table

Here's an update from The Tennessean on the demise of Teddy Bart's Round Table, a two-hour daily radio show about Tennessee politics that will be greatly missed. I think the program could be saved, but not by the board that voted to shut it down.

Matt White says he'll miss the show, and is willing to donate to a fundraising effort to save it. So am I, though I, too, note the irony that most of the board members that voted to kill the show because of a $150,000 funding shortfall are exceedingly wealthy. As Matt put it, most of the board members "could write that check with about as much pain as you and I have buying a Happy Meal."

Ted Welch, the very wealthy real estate developer who can raise millions for presidential candidates with just a few phone calls, was the chairman of the board of directors for The Public Forum, the not-for-profit that owns the radio show. On The Public Forum's website, Welch wrote:

The last and maybe the most important of those words as to why I’m so excited about chairing the board of The Public Forum is passion. Teddy, Karlen and the staff all make a huge sacrifice to be involved with The Public Forum, financially and otherwise. All could be making much more money elsewhere in either the public sector or the private sector than they are here. But they are here because they are passionate! They have a vision, and they want Tennesseans everywhere to take part in the process.

And the board is just as dedicated. Of course we work without fee, every once in awhile we get lunch at board meetings ...In full disclosure, we got some cookies that Karlen baked at Christmastime. But we all believe with all of our hearts in the mission of The Public Forum and feel it’s doing a great job in carrying out that mission. In full support, the board is just as passionate as Teddy, Karlen and the staff. Indeed, it is a real honor for me to be involved.

And so a show that was an important part of the public policy discussion process in Tennessee dies.

July 23, 2005

"It was never going to be enough against Lance Armstrong."

Germany cyclist Jan Ullrich rode a great time trial today in the 20th stage of the Tour de France, but Lance Armstrong bested him by 23 seconds in the 55-kilometer individual race against the clock, winning the stage and securing his seventh win in the world's toughest sporting event. Ivan Basso's excellent showing maintained his position in second place in the overall race, which concludes tomorrow in Paris. Good coverage here from an LA Times writer who also is blogging from the TdF.

Finishing in a time of 1 hour, 11 minutes, 46 seconds, Armstrong won the 34.5-mile race against the clock and all but clinched his seventh straight victory. He avoided becoming only the sixth man in Tour history — and the first since fellow American Greg LeMond in 1990 — to win the race without winning an individual stage.

The 2,254-mile, 21-stage race ends Sunday with a ride into Paris and eight laps around the Champs Elysees. For Armstrong and his Discovery Channel teammates, it will be an emotional celebration of his unprecedented accomplishments and a bit of melancholy farewell.

"It's a dream for me," Armstrong said.

His 5-year-old son Luke stood next to his dad on the podium afterward and said, "It's good."

Armstrong increased his overall lead over second-place Italian Ivan Basso from 2:46 to 4:40. Germany's Jan Ullrich moved into third place, 6:21 behind.

Armstrong led the 20th stage at all but one of the five time checks, trailing Basso by seven seconds at the 17-kilometer mark. Basso had begun the day hoping to hold off five-time runner-up Ullrich and he did. Ullrich finished second in the stage, 23 seconds behind Armstrong. Ullrich passed hard-luck Dane Mickael Rasmussen for third place overall.

More Waltzing Ahead

There may be more arrests in Operation Tennessee Waltz, the FBI probe that nailed four sitting lawmakers on corruption charges. The Associated Press reports from Memphis:

The federal investigation that led to corruption charges against five current and former Tennessee lawmakers is still ongoing, court records show. Prosecutors refuse to talk about the investigation, code named Tennessee Waltz, but pretrial papers filed by U.S. Attorney Terrell Harris say investigators are still at work. In preparing to turn over investigative materials to defense lawyers, Harris told Judge Jon McCalla that some records must be edited because they "contain information concerning lines of investigation that are not yet completed and individuals who have not been charged in a criminal case."

Off the Air

Here is sad news for anyone with a serious interest in Tennessee politics and policy discussion. I have been a guest on the Teddy Bart's Round Table radio program four or five times and always found it to be an enjoyable experience. Tennessee's political scene will be worse off for it being off the air. Here's hoping some way can be found to resurrect the program. (The Nashville City Paper broke the story of the show's demise yesterday.)

Bob Krumm has some thoughts about the show's impending demise, as do Jay Bush and Matt White.

Meanwhile, as a good and useful radio program is going off the air because the non-profit foundation that produces it is short a mere $150,000, the city of Nashville is about to spend $250,000 to fund the construction of a really ugly and large piece of "art."

UPDATE: If I owned a newspaper or teevee news program , I'd buy the radio show, keep it running, and assign a reporter to cover the show full-time who would produce a daily blog from the show - complete with audio clips - and write or produce news stories based on the guests and subjects discussed each day.

The synergy could be amazing, and could turn whichver media company did it into "Tennessee politics central." Here's why: News is regulary made on that show, though it is often not noticed by the rest of the news media.

A few weeks ago, Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. made waves by declaring on the show that he thought a recent Supreme Court ruling gutting 200-plus years of constitutional protections for private property rights was a "positive" ruling. Days later, realizing that public opinion was decidedly opposed to that judicial ruling, Ford flip-flopped.

That was news and it deserved big coverage.

"You enjoy yourself when you know it's almost over."

The New York Times looks back at yesterday's 19th stage of the Tour de France, and forward to the now-inevitable conclusion: Lance Armstrong in yellow for a seventh straight year.

Lance Armstrong smoothly moved a day closer to his coronation and retirement while spending a quiet Friday afternoon in the countryside as the Tour de France followed a script as inflexible as that of a Kabuki drama.

"You enjoy yourself when you know it's almost over," Armstrong, the leader of the Discovery Channel team, said Thursday, referring to his retirement on Sunday after the race concludes in Paris.

There was a lot to enjoy in the 19th stage Friday. The heat abated a bit, the sky was laced with puffball clouds, the route offered soothing vistas of the Massif Central and the air was scented with pine forests and newly mown hay. Amusingly, the road passed over the Ance River, marked on signs as l'Ance.

Beyond such bucolic pleasures, there was not much else. As interesting and exciting as the race had been at low levels, the Tour has been devoid of suspense at the top for a week. Armstrong has all but locked up his seventh successive Tour and is expected be anointed champion a day after the long time trial in St. Étienne on Saturday.

The time trial, in which Armstrong and his team should excel, is the last chance for the riders at the top of the standings to make a move. The final stage into Paris on Sunday is typically won by a sprinter.

Lance Armstrong is aiming to cap his record seventh win in the Tour de France with a win in the individual trime trial today, although Armstrong says Jan Ullrich is the favorite in today's 20th stage.

Ethically Ironic

In yesterday's Tennessean, Trent Seibert examines the story of state Rep. Kim McMillan's new job, noting that "The chairwoman of Tennessee's House Ethics Committee has taken a job with a law firm that does lobbying work for health-care companies, the wireless industry and other special interests." Read the whole thing.

July 22, 2005

Is Harold Ford Jr. Inevitable?

Chris Jackson, the young blogger behind the new pro-Harold Ford Jr. blog, emailed me to inquire as to where he might find the latest fundraising totals from state Sen. Rosalind Kurita, who is opposing Ford's bid for the Democratic Senate nomination in Tennessee.

I suggested he check with the Federal Election Commission.

Then I checked myself. Kurita's second-quarter numbers aren't posted yet, but through March 31, 2005, she had raised $256,925, and spent just $15,373 leaving her with $241,551 on hand. That's not near what Ford has raised, of course, but it's certainly enough to consider her a credible challenger - and raise doubts about whether Ford is yet the consensus choice of Tennessee Democrats.

I'll be interested to see her second-quarter fundraising totals. If they show similar or increased fundraising totals, it will not be great news for Ford. The longer he fails to secure the air of inevitability, the less inevitable he becomes.

Kurita sure believes that Harold Ford Jr. is not inevitable.

All It's Cracked Up To Be

Restaurant reviews are not my thing nor my forte, but I had the enjoyable experience of eating lunch today at Chef Tim's Cracked Pepper Restaurant & Catering, 102 Lumber Drive, Franklin, TN. I'd heard good things about the place, and wasn't disappointed - good food and good service.

I had the chicken and andouille sausage gumbo.

Yum. Excellent. It was infinitely better than the lousy gumbo (and lousy service) I had a year ago this month at a restaurant in New Orleans' French Quarter named, rather incongruously, The Alpine, a meal that is, bar none, the worst meal I ever paid for.

Eat at Chef Tim's if you get the opportunity. It's right next to Lenny's Sub Shop, which I also recommend.

Franklin blogger Randy Elrod reviewed Chef Tim's back in May.

"Five more hours in my career as a cyclist"

Lance Armstrong retained his lead after today's 19th stage of the Tour de France. Saturday's individual time trial is now the final test in his storied career.

Day Off

I've taken the day off. Which means I'm doing freelance work and spending time with my wife and kids. So I probably won't be blogging much today. Have a great weekend!

July 21, 2005

"A love for the event and a hatred for losing the event."

Lance Armstrong is a virtual lock now to win his seventh Tour de France, after today's 18th stage.

Armstrong, who is retiring at the end of the race, defended his large lead in Thursday's stage, won by Marcos Serrano of Spain. Armstrong finished more than 11 minutes back in a group of four with Ivan Basso of Italy, Jan Ullrich of Germany and Cadel Evans of Australia. They broke away from other riders with bursts of speed up a brutal ascent at the finish in Mende, in south-central France.

Armstrong's lead over Basso remained unchanged at 2 minutes, 46 seconds. Third-placed Mickael Rasmussen was slower up the last climb and slipped to 3:46 behind Armstrong. Ullrich is still fourth, 5:58 behind Armstrong, but closed on Rasmussen. The 1997 Tour winner improved his chances of overtaking the Dane in the final time trial on Saturday.

Ullrich, who has three second-place finishes behind Armstrong, said: "We tried everything. But Lance is so strong, just like last year. We tried to attack him, but you have to accept he is the strongest. The way he rides, the way his team rides. He deserves it."

Armstrong came into this Tour as hungry and as well-prepared as ever, quickly silencing doubters who questioned his will and ability to win again at age 33. He distanced his rivals from the opening time trial and then built on his lead in the mountains. "It's been smooth, smoother than I expected," said Armstrong. "There's never really been a true panic within the team, within myself."

Asked how he has managed to stay so focused for seven years, he replied: "A love for the event and a hatred for losing the event."

"I learned in 1999 that this race is bigger than any, greater than any," he added. "I also learned what it's like to win it ... and how much happiness and joy it brings to myself and to an entire program and to a country really of non-cycling fans."

Inside the Loop

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen is currently considering calling a special session to enact ethics reforms covering legislators and lobbyists. But a few months ago Bredesen demonstrated just how little he minds the too-cozy relationship between legislators and lobbyists with one of the many appointments a governor makes while he's in office. MetroPulse comments...

Gov. Phil Bredesen appointed Larry McMillan to be a chancellor for the 19th Judicial District in Clarksville when a vacancy occurred last winter. In addition to his outstanding credentials, we would note that he is the husband of state Rep. Kim McMillan, D-Clarksville, who also serves as the majority leader of the Tennessee House of Representatives.

The break up of the firm of McMillan and McMillan has resulted in Majority Leader McMillan recently joining the law firm of Bolt, Cummings, Conners and Berry . That law firm has nine lawyers specializing in governmental relations. That's lawyer speak for lobbyists.

So if you need a good lobbyist, keep in mind that you can hire one of the majority leader's colleagues at her law firm. Meanwhile, Majority Leader McMillan is on a committee appointed by House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh to advise him on