Nashville:

A Warm Sunny Day, September 01, 2005
Photo: Nashville Skyline, 4:40 p.m., Wednesday, August 31. It was a warm, sunny day. Click to enlarge....

All It's Cracked Up To Be, July 22, 2005
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...

Wheel Tax Regulatory License Fee Update, July 04, 2005
Bruce Barry has done a little more digging on the story I had first here last Thursday at BillHobbs.com looking at the possibility that the $20 increase 's wheel tax regulatory license fee was not properly passed by the council under state law. If you ever wanted to see a demonstration of why blog-based online interactive multi-player grassroots journalism can be better at providing more comprehensive, in-depth and on-going coverage of an important story than...

When is a "Wheel Tax" Not a "Wheel Tax"? , July 03, 2005
When it's called something else, says Bruce Barry, who is continuing to dig into the dubious legality of the $20 increase in the wheel tax "regulatory license" fee passed last week by Nashville's Metro Council....

Update on the Dubious Legality of Nashville's "Wheel Tax" Increase, July 02, 2005
The Tennessean has a story today exploring whether the $20 "wheel tax" increase passed last week by Nashville's Metro Council was passed legally under state law. BillHobbs.com was the first news publication to raise that issue, two days ago in an article titled Nashville "Wheel Tax" Increase May Not Be Legal. That article led to a second publication, the Nashville Scene, to explore the wheel tax increase's legality in an online article by Bruce Barry...

"Hydroplane Racing is Like NASCAR on Water", June 30, 2005
... and it's coming to Nashville's J. Percy Priest Lake Sept 9-11. Check it out at MusicCityHydroFest.com if you're interested. The ticket price seems reasonable....

Nashville "Wheel Tax" Increase May Not Be Legal, June 30, 2005
It has come to my attention that the $20 county car registraion fee increase passed by Nashville's Metro Council Monday night was not passed by the two-thirds majority required by state law....

Thanks to Blogs, Nashvillians Still Have Right to Fight $20 "Wheel Tax" Increase, June 29, 2005
Nashvillians will pay higher property taxes and $20 more per year for their car registrations under a new city budget passed by the city's Metro Council last night. While the newspaper stories don't mention it, the $20 wheel tax increase may not yet be a done deal. Thanks to bloggers, the citizens of Nashville still have the right under state law to force a referendum on that tax increase via a petition drive. Why do...

Honkies, June 22, 2005
If you're interested in the debate over a proposal for a big property-tax increase , Blake Wylie has the coverage. I've lived in the Nashville area since 1988 and I can't recall a single other time when a proposed city tax increase generated public protests outside City Hall. Whatever the outcome, it is refreshing to see....

"Not By Me", June 17, 2005
Steve Gill has released audio of Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell's blanket rejection and condemnation of a proposed payroll tax for people who work . This may be the first time I've every agreed with Mayor Purcell on any substantive policy, but it doesn't pain me at all to say he's right on this. Here's an audio clip from Gill's radio show, Steve Gill Mornings, on WTN 99.7 FM . Gill talks for about 90 seconds...

Pushing an Unconstitutional Payroll Tax, June 17, 2005
Today's print edition of the Nashville Business Journal has a good editorial in response to a June 12 Tennessean editorial calling for Nashville to enact a 1 percent payroll tax to balance its budget on the backs of non-residents from the suburbs who work within the city limits. The NBJ piece won't be online until Monday. Meanwhile, I'd like to point out something that the NBJ editorial writer didn't mention: a payroll tax would violate...

Statisically, That's Beside the Point, June 13, 2005
Bruce Barry has kicked off an interesting debate about Metro Nashville's schools budget and academic performance over at the Nashville Scene's blog, Pith In the Wind. On the one hand, Barry says the statistical analysis in the PowerPoint presentation by Metro Council member Eric Crafton (which I blogged about here last week) is flawed because he compares Nashville's schools to the wrong other school systems. On the other hand, Barry admits Metro schools are "mediocre."...

Report Card, June 10, 2005
I don't really have a dog in the fight over whether or not to raise Nashville's property and sales tax rates and give more money to the Metro Nashville Public Schools. I don't live and would never let my children go to its lousy public schools - I'm one of the growing number of former Nashville residents who have fled or are fleeing its high taxes and lousy schools and heading to the suburbs for...

A Nashville Scene, June 09, 2005
I took my camera with me when I left campus for lunch today, on a hunch I might see something worth photographing. Sure enough, I was barely a block from campus, at a stop sign waiting to turn right, when this Mercedes came speeding past, with a guy standing up through the sunroof, filming. The camera - you can see the back of it there on his right shoulder if you click the picture...

The Battle for Nashville, June 08, 2005
The leadership of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce - some of whom don't even live -Davidson County - want the Nashville Metro Council to raise taxes on people who DO live . These people have other ideas. You can guess who I'm rooting for....

Ageism, May 26, 2005
news, the mayor has proposed the second-largest tax increase in city history, in a package that includes the possibility of tax relief for the city's senior citizens - if voters approve a half-cent increase in the city's sales tax. Some are questioning whether the age-based tax relief is legal. I think it probably is - but there is a larger question: Is it fair? In his "State of Metro" speech, Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell...

See Rock City, Batman, May 17, 2005
Here's a shot of the Bellsouth tower, known around Nashville as "the Batman building," that I took a couple weeks ago. Just a quick-grab shot, taken outside Sole Mio restaurant the first night of the BlogNashville conference, when I spotted the juxtaposition of the modern BellSouth tower and old neon sign of the old Rock City Machine Co. Back when I worked downtown I drove past the Rock City Machine Co. every day en route...

A Taxing Tale, May 16, 2005
I don't normally blog about local Nashville issues, but this story in today's Tennessean about the possibility of a tax increase just reeks with pro-tax increase bias.By the week, the increase is $4.33 — about the cost of a fancy cup of coffee at Starbucks. That perspective on a tax increase is exactly what Metro needs as it decides whether to pay more money for schools, said Jim Pfeiffer, a parent whose children attend schools...

Free Franklin WiFi?, May 05, 2005
The Nashville suburb of Franklin may soon become the first citywide municipal wifi hotspot in Tennessee - but Nashville remains far behind in the emerging trend of cities offering ubiqituous wireless Internet access. The Scene has the story. A few years ago, I started sending emails to a key person 's economic development efforts, often with articles attached about what other cities are doing to make wireless Internet access available in their central business districts....

Wednesday Barn Blogging, April 27, 2005
This barn and the surrounding 110-acre estate called "The Meadows," located on the northwest quadrant of the intersection of Franklin Road and Mack Hatcher Parkway in Franklin, Tennessee, is owned by Jerry Meadows, who, it is reported, "describes himself as a marketing consultant helping others start their own business." Meadows is one of those very rare people who made a killing in multi-level marketing. He keeps a few horses and a few dozen cows...

Backbone, April 25, 2005
I don't do much Nashville news here, but this is too rich to ignore. Less than a week after Nashville's Metro Council passed a resolution urging the mayor to submit a no-tax-increase budget, members of the Metro Council - including some who voted for that resolution - are discussing just which taxes to raise if the mayor says he wants more money to spend. Every four years, it seems, Nashville raises property taxes and this...

A New Cult?, April 14, 2005
The hot topic on local talk radio lately has been a church called Remnant Fellowship, and whether it is trying to take over the government of the suburban city of Brentwood by importing members and temporarily housing them in Remnant members' homes, and registering them to vote. Remnant Fellowship is a creepy proto-cult, in my opinion - and not just because of this latest flap. Here are some links for more info: Brentwood election may...

Wednesday Barn Blogging, April 13, 2005
This barn sits smack-dab in the middle of a subdivision on the south side of Franklin Tennessee, off West Harpeth Road. You can see a little more of the subdivision here. The area is one that is rapidly filling with homes in the $300,000-$400,000 range, and higher, but much of the area is still farmland. It's a good bet that won't last long. And yes, that is a basketball net nailed to the front...

Sudan Ambassador Wednesday, April 12, 2005
If you are concerned about the plight of the people of Sudan, where starvation and genocide are killing people by the hundreds of thousands, and you live in the Nashville area, you can confront the Sudanese ambassador to the United States, Amb. Abdel Bagi Kabeir, with your concerns in person on Wednesday, April 13. Details here. For the past few decades, Sudan was wracked by civil war as Muslims from the northern part of the...

Blogger Makes Nashville News, April 12, 2005
Blogger Blake Wylie, of NashvilleFiles, gets credit from The Tennessean for leading the charge in opposition to the Nashville police department's plans to install surveillance cameras all over the city. The Tennessean, by the way, appears to be starting to wake up to the blogosphere - although no one from the paper has yet registered to attend BlogNashville - or to cover it - even though it is happening right in the paper's back yard...

Severe Weather, April 09, 2005
Nashville's weather is predicted to be 77 degrees and sunny today, 79 and sunny on Sunday, causing a severe decrease in weekend blogging. I'll post a few brief items before I go....

Patting Big Brother On The Back, March 26, 2005
The Tennessean endorses the encroachment of Big Brother. Over to you, Blake Wylie......

Blogging Big Brother, March 23, 2005
Blake Wylie is taking point in the bloguerilla war against Nashville Police Chief Ronal Serpas's notion of putting Big Brother-ish cameras everywhere, including on traffic lights. Traffic red-light cameras and other cameras of the kind Serpas wants to install all over Nashville are a threat to civil liberties and privacy rights. If you are a Nashvillian who reads my blog regularly and you aren't reading Blake Wylie just as often, you are making a big...

Interesting, March 22, 2005
An Atlanta company, ThePort Network Inc., has reserved two domain names I wish I had grabbed - NashvilleBlogs.com and TennesseeBlogs.com. I wonder what they are planning to do with them....

This.Is.Nashville, March 21, 2005
Kevin Barbieux, the formerly homeless Nashville resident behind the well-known blog The Homeless Guy, has launched a new blog called This.Is.Nashville. Actually, it is seven blogs in one, with each individual blog focusing on such things as music, art, politics, and God, all linked from the central This.Is.Nashville home page. Clever. And he's looking for co-bloggers. Only one entry so far, but Barbieux has a track record of good blogging so This.Is.Nashville has a great...

Food Done Right, March 20, 2005
I don't normally do restaurant reviews, but my wife and I had a very enjoyable dinner last night at Criallo's, a great little bistro located in a nondescript strip mall in Franklin, TN. I had the French Filet of Sirloin, Anna had the Chicken Artichoke Reggiano, and we split an appetizer (Springs Rolls) and a dessert (creme brulee). Excellent all around, and Criallo's has a cozy atmosphere as well. If you live in or are...

Googling for TennCare, March 16, 2005
Blake Wylie has some thoughts about TennCare. He's also doing some nominally related photoblogging....

Tuesday Wednesday Barn Blogging, March 16, 2005
This old barn is located off Lewisburg Pike near Mack Hatcher Parkway in Franklin, Tennessee, south of Nashville, on a small piece of farm property that has been for sale seemingly since shortly after the barn was new. Part of the property is in the Harpeth River floodplain, however, and the rest is hemmed in by a high-traffic road that very likely will be four-laned in the coming years. I was especially pleased by...

The New Face of Architecture Today, March 16, 2005
The Tennessean reports that a new 13-story office building will soon be built in downtown Nashville, next to the famed Ryman Auditorium, the former longtime home of the Grand Ole Opry. I must say, it is a unique design for an office building. Here's a detail from the screenshot of The Tennessean's story as it appeared online this morning. I like it. Because I hate faceless architecture. UPDATE: The paper had the right picture in...

The Nashville Network, March 14, 2005
A Nashville Internet entrepreneur is launching a next-generation WiFi network - WiMax - covering a large chunk of downtown, midtown and the surrounding area, to serve businesses looking for an alternative to a T1 line. Cool....

Every Once In Awhile..., March 14, 2005
I actually agree with something on The Tennessean editorial page. This is one of those times....

Nashville Scenes, March 11, 2005
I've been intending to take my digital camera out and photograph a variety of Nashville landmarks, the Nashville skyline, etc., but have not yet found the time to do so. Until I do, check out Chip Curley's rather extensive Nashville photo gallery. Chip Curley also maintains an extensive Nashville weblinks list here. More cool pictures of Nashville here. All of those pictures and many more from Nashville are on PBASE.com...

Revolting!, March 06, 2005
The Tennessean profiles the role of Tennessee Tax Revolt in the upcoming debate over raising property taxes in the city of Nashville. The story is even-handed in its treatment of the organization, which grew out of the protests against a state income tax in 1999-2002 (a story chronicled in this fine book). However, the paper ignored - or simply isn't aware of - the role that Tennessee Tax Revolt played over the last week or...

Second Avenue's Third Act, March 01, 2005
Even more residential units are coming to downtown Nashville, via a rehab and modernization of some riverfront warehouses built on Second Avenue not long after the end of the Civil War. Residential development in downtown Nashville - through rehabs and new construction - is a fast-growing and very welcome trend. The Spring Brook Buildings were built in 1868. They - along with the rest of Second Avenue, were mostly abandoned and decaying by the late...

New Nashville Sports Blog, February 05, 2005
Local sports anchor John Dwyer at WKRN Channel 2 has launched a blog, DwyerWire, which promises to be good. Terry Heaton helped him get it started. Terry, a visionary broadcast news consultant, and WKRN are taking a leadership role in expanding the Nashville blogosphere - WKRN is even hosting a meet-up for Nashville bloggers a week from today. (Don't email me - Terry is handling the invites...) Welcome to the blogosphere, John....

Foggy Friday, February 04, 2005
Splitting the Pea Soup This is what it looked like out the windhshield of my car this morning as I drove to work. I live very near a river, and when there's a "dense fog advisory" for the Nashville area, it's even worse near where I live. The sun burned it off by about 9 a.m., however, and Friday was a gorgeous day for February - sunny, mid-50s with only a slight breeze. Can't...

The Start of Something New, February 01, 2005
Today's Tennessean reports on what I believe is a huge loss for Nashville but a gain for the cause of Christ in this world: the resignation, after 27 years, of a local preacher to take a position leading a new graduate program in urban ministry at Rochester College in Rochester Hills, Michigan. I have been a member at the church where Dr. Rubel Shelly preaches since 1984, except for a brief three-year hiatus (1985-88) while...

Nashville Scene, January 27, 2005
One of the more amazing sights is this full-scale replica of the ancient Parthenon in Greece, recently rehabbed at a cost of millions of dollars. It houses an art museum in the basement and, on the main floor, a 42-foot-high statue of Athena, Athena Parthenos, perhaps the most expensive piece of kitsch in America. It really does look ridiculous, like a giant gilded piece from some ancient Grecian Goofy Golf franchise. The good news:...

Your Morning Coffee, January 27, 2005

Signs of Nashville, January 26, 2005
Clarity I photographed the detour sign at a road construction site on 12th Avenue today. Honestly, can you be sure you are supposed to turn left? So, I had a little fun with the image. In case the sign was upside down: Er, or maybe this was how it was supposed to go:...

Bredesen Critiques Own Party, January 25, 2005
Lance Frizzell recounts a harsh critique of the Democratic Party by one of its rising stars, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen. Meanwhile, Glenn Reynolds has more thoughts on Bredesen's national prospects - and the prospects for the party itself if it fails to distance itself from its loony left - here. And Nashville newspaper columnist Tim Chavez has a critical column about Bredesen here. I don't fully agree with Chavez, by the way, that every economic...

BlogNashville News, January 21, 2005
Today's Tennessean reported on the coming of BlogNashville, in a brief story in the local news section today. It's not online yet, so here is a digital image of the story. I'll be updating the progress on planning BlogNashville here from time to time, but your best source for timely updates is BlogNashville.org....

Is it "Anti-Muslim" To Tell the Truth?, January 21, 2005
The city government of Nashville now considers it "anti-Muslim" to tell the truth about the largely Muslim roots of anti-American terror attacks over the past few decades. Today's Tennessean reports......

BlogNashville: Save The Date, January 18, 2005
Here's some major news about a blogging event coming to Nashville in early May. Glenn Reynolds is involved. So am I. So is Robert Cox. So is the Media Bloggers Association. So are a lot of people. If you're a blogger, so should you be....

The Road Less Taken, January 18, 2005
View across an unnamed valley N. Berry's Chapel Road, Brentwood, TN, Jan. 17, 2004 Monday was the first day in the entire month of January in the Nashville area that dawned sunny and stayed sunny all day. While out running errands I slipped down a side road that I'd never taken before and crested a hill on a narrow two-lane and saw this view off to the right. You'd never know you were less...

First day of Iraqi voter sign-ups goes smoothly, January 18, 2005
In Nashville.Mustafa Binavy, 37, had a satisfied smile on his face as he left the Fraternal Order of Police building on Welshwood Drive yesterday afternoon. "I am a registered voter," said Binavy, beaming. "We've been waiting for this day for a long time. I never believed we would be able to vote. This is a great achievement." Binavy, a resident of Nashville for 12 years who served as a translator in the recent Iraq war,...

Nashville: We're Number 68!, January 17, 2005
Nashville recently claimed the top spot in an economic development trade magazine's recent ranking of good places to locate a business, but it ranks a dismal 68th on this list of cities that provide good highspeed wireless Internet access in their central business districts. Tom Neff, who writes a tech column for the Nashville City Paper, today looks at why Nashville is so far behind the curve in providing wifi Internet access in its central...

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow Today!, January 14, 2005
Nashville Skyline This was the view from the sixth level of the parking garage, looking out over the soccer field, as I left work this afternoon. That glowing light on the Nashville skyline is apparently caused by a large yellow ball of fire in the sky, something we often see during the summer months but rarely in January and, indeed, have seen only briefly this perennially gray month. Click the image to see a...

More Nashville-Area Blogs, January 11, 2005
Last week I put out a call for my Nashville-area readers to help me compile a list of Nashville-area bloggers. They responded, and I learned of a host of blogs I'd never heard of before. Some are political, some personal, some ... passingly strange. Some, it must be said, are better than others. But that's the nature of this small-d democratic medium. The cream shall rise. One that may rise is HispanicNashville.com, in business for...

He's Baaack, January 11, 2005
Blake Wylie, MIA in the blogosphere for a few weeks, is back and in rare form. Check him out at NashvilleFiles....

Details, Details, January 07, 2005
, one of five U.S. cities where Iraqi expatriates will be able to vote in the upcoming Iraqi election, details are still up in the air just 10 days out, reports The Tennessean today....

Nashville Bloggers Arise!, January 03, 2005
I am attempting to compile a reasonably comprehensive list of active Nashville-area bloggers. Are you one? Do you know of any? Please leave their blog's name and URL in the comments. Thanks. Click "read more" to see the partial list I have already compiled....

Not Totally Gray, December 29, 2004
The Middle Tennessee area around Nashville is a reasonably picturesque place most of the year, but not in winter when the dominant color is gray. More than any other place I have ever lived, the skies remain gray for much of the winter here - even staying gray long after the latest snow or chilly rain storm has passed. So today's sun was a welcome site and I drove around for a half hour this...

The PC War, December 28, 2004
, a local Islamic community leader is offering free classes on Islam to dispel the notion that Islam is a religion of murdering terrorists.When Awadh Binhazim holds diversity training in the Nashville area, he asks his students what comes to mind when they hear the word Muslim. Many say "murderer," "terrorist" or "bad religion." To counter these beliefs, Binhazim and other leaders of the Islamic Center of Nashville will hold free weekly classes on Islam...

Blizzard Blogging, December 23, 2004
Apparently, there is a big snowstorm hammering a large swath of America. Here's a blizzard-blogging photo report from Nashville: South of Nashville, just enough snow fell to make you think we might have a White Christmas, but it'll probably be mostly melted by Christmas morning. Click pic to enlarge...

Conventional Wisdom, November 20, 2004
Nashville's downtown convention center is too small, but a consultant's suggested options for expanding it are laughable.Expanding to the north involves the site owned by developer Tony Giarratana, who has proposed a 55-story skyscraper there. Giarratana made his first public presentation of the projected $200 million tower Thursday and didn't learn of the convention-center study's result until yesterday morning. "If modified, the plan could allow both projects to work," the developer said. There's also cost....

That's a Rap, November 19, 2004
Young Buck might surrender.People in the Nashville rap community rallied around Young Buck yesterday, while Santa Monica, Calif., detectives seeking him in connection with a stabbing were negotiating with an attorney for his surrender. Young Buck, 23, whose real name is David Darnell Brown, is accused of stabbing a man at Monday night's Vibe Awards in California; the incident apparently was sparked when the Nashville rapper's musical mentor, Dr. Dre, was punched just before being...

Bucking the Nashville System, November 18, 2004
Nashville, the home of country music, has long had dreams of becoming more than that in the music business, but never has had much luck launching a non-country music artist or band to national stardom. Until this year when a rapper named Young Buck released Straight Outta Ca$hville, and saw it debut at No. 3 on the Billboard chart. Now, Young Buck isbeing sought in connection with a stabbing at Monday night's Vibe Awards, an...

Nashville Government May Steal From Poor to Help Rich, November 10, 2004
Nashville's Metro Development and Housing Agency is threatening to use its condemnation powers under "eminent domain" to take property from two property owners, destroy two small businsses on the properties, and give the land to a well-heeled real estate developer. That's not right. I plan on contacting The Institute for Justice, which wages legal battles against government abuse of "eminent domain," as well as the Castle Coalition. Who is the Institute for Justice?For half a...

Terrorist Wannabe Nabbed , October 09, 2004
I hadn't commented on this before, but a would-be Iraqi jihadist was nabbed yesterday. Only God knows how many Nashvillians' lives were spared by his arrest. Charles Johnson has some more and very interesting information about the would-be terrorist....

Good News on the Nashville Economy, August 27, 2004
The Nashville area's unemployment rate has dropped to 3.4 percent from 4.5 percent a year ago, as unemployment falls in all eight counties of the metropolitan area. Manufacturing accounts for a fourth of the job growth. I blame the Bush tax cuts....

Honk Your Horn!, July 08, 2004
Good news for my Nashville readers - radio talk show host Phil Valentine, a tireless champion of conservative causes and indefatigable foe of the proposed state income tax - is back on the air at a new station after a six-month hiatus. Even better news: He comes on a 9 a.m., which means I don't have to decide between Phil and Glen Beck for the first hour of Beck's show. Better news: He's on opposite...

A Bridge Too Far, July 07, 2004
Apparently, I cheated death yesterday. I drove across this old bridge about two hours before they closed it for good after safety inspectors found a beam had rusted through. (Ya know, I thought the bridge, over which I used to commute daily to work, felt a little more bouncy than normal yesterday...)...

Mosque Marquee Should Say Stop the Jihad, June 23, 2004
Regarding the ambiguous anti-war message on the marquee of a Nashville mosque, reader Jody L. writes:I suppose it is still vague as to who they hold responsible for all of the killing. Technically, both sides have killed, but what most people are interested in is who is justified and who is not. Perhaps a follow-up call to the local mosque may reveal more clearly who they feel are justified. If they truly feel that the...

Do As We Say..., June 19, 2004
The Nashville city council is working on an ordinance that would require property owners to keep the grass and weeds cut to 12 inches or shorter, in part for health reasons - tall weeds allow vermin to grow. The council is likely to exempt the city government from compliance with the ordinance, in yet another case of government imposing rules on the people while exempting itself. And yet another reason I'm glad I moved out...

Economy Signing Happy Tune , May 28, 2004
The Nashville area's unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent in April, it's lowest level in 16 months. I blame the Bush tax cuts. UPDATE: Today's new edition of Nashville Business Journal reports that the local economic recovery "has quickly blossomed into a broad upswing." The paper notes the economic recovery "is spreading its wings to take in virtually all sectors and indicators." Housing construction - a foundation of the economy - is especially strong. Story...

The Best Place To Live, May 24, 2004
The American City Business Journals chain has put together a list of the best places to live, based on 20 quality-of-life factors.ACBJ used 20 statistical indicators to rate living conditions in all 3,141 counties and independent cities across the nation. Topping the list is Los Alamos County, located about 30 miles northwest of Santa Fe, N.M. Rounding out the top five are Olmsted County, Minn., which includes the city of Rochester; the Colorado counties of...

Nashville Economy Shows More Signs of Growth, May 24, 2004
Here's the story I mentioned Friday from Nashville Business Journal, headlined, "Region's hiring activity picking up pace."...

Nashville Skyline, May 24, 2004
This very cool photo comes from today's edition of The Tennessean, by staff photographer John Partipilo, and depicts a view of the Nashville skyline from the deck of the new Gateway Bridge connecting downtown and east Nashville over the Cumberland River. Click the photo for the story....

Congratulations, Safaa, December 15, 2003
I have at various times in the past two years showed you this photo, by Tennessean staff photographer P. Casey Daley, showing little Safaa Albadran, 4, outside the Nashville Convention Center under a banner held by her father Karim, an Iraqi immigrant who opposes Saddam Hussein’s government, left, proclaiming Saddam: Out - Democracy In. The photo was taken more than a year ago, when President Bush was in town for a political fundraiser. Also outside...

Dumb and Dumber, November 15, 2003
This story in today's local paper says illegal aliens "undocumented immigrants" can get an ID card from the Mexican consulate, and that some 40,000 of the cards have been issued to illegal aliens "undocumented immigrants" in Tennessean and some nearby states in recent years. The story also says there would be about 1,000 illegal aliens "undocumented immigrants" lined up to apply for the ID cards today.The Mexican Consulate in Atlanta is setting up shop in...

Timing is Everything Seven elderly, September 26, 2003
Seven elderly people died in a fire at a Nashville nursing home late last night and 20 were critically injured from burns and smoke inhalation. The building had no sprinklers because it's an old building that was built before sprinklers were required by law. Okay. But what I want to know is: Why would a company that operates nursing homes put frail elderly people to live in a building without sprinklers? What were they thinking?...

We've Been Here Before, March 10, 2003
These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered. - Thomas Paine, The Crisis, December 19, 1776 But conquer it we must, for the sake of Safaa Albadran and 24 million other Iraqis who deserve freedom...

Happy Thoughts, March 10, 2003
I must admit, I copied this idea for a "Happy Thoughts" photo of the day from South Knox Bubba. My Happy Thought photo comes from The Tennessean a few months ago. It's a picture of Safaa Albadran, 4, the daughter of Iraqi exiles. She was photographed standing outside the downtown convention center under a banner held by her father, Karim, left, proclaiming "Saddam: Out - Democracy In," during a pro-war demonstration by Iraqis living ....

Balance, February 10, 2003
The Tennessean says anti-war protestors will great President Bush today. No mention in the story of whether the paper bothered to try to determine if Bush will also be greeted by demonstrators in favor of his Iraq policies. Last time the president was here, he was also greated by Iraqi nationals like these: P. Casey Daley/Tennessean staff Hoping to see President Bush, Safaa Albadran, 4, stands outside the downtown convention center under a banner held...

Why We're About To Go To War In Iraq, December 13, 2002
This photo ran in The Tenenssean on Sept. 18. It was taken outside the downtown Nashville Convention Center while President Bush was delivering a speech inside. This young Iraqi girl was clutching her American flag ever so tightly, while the nearby anti-war protestors were not holding American flags at all. Photo by P. Casey Daley/Tennessean staff Caption: Hoping to see President Bush, Safaa Albadran, 4, stands outside the downtown convention center under a banner held...

Unflagging Support, September 18, 2002
This photo in The Tenenssean today, taken yesterday on a downtown Nashville street outside the Convention Center where President Bush was delivering a speech inside, is a wonderful counterpoint to that picture we saw a few months ago of a Palestinian girl wearing fake dynamite sticks and being held aloft by her proud (but deranged) father an at anti-Israel protest in Germany. I found it curious that this young Iraqi girl is clutching her American...