Back in the USA

Yes...I am back...tired...but back. I also think I picked up some type of sickness on the plane coming back. Good times. I go the entire week surrounded by germs over there, and I'm completely fine...I get back, and I end up getting a low-grade fever with a sore throat.

Looks like everyone had a good time with the guest bloggers over the last week and a half. One person emailed to say the following:

...your blog has been overrun by racist, bigot, muslim phobics (his words--not mine :) Well, except for Steve--Steve is very entertaining and should continue to blog. And I'm not just saying that because he's liberal. :)

I'd say by some of the comments, there were defintely some emotions stirred up a bit.

So, what did I miss while I was gone? Two things of importance (at least to me).

1) John Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court. I may will have more on this later, but for all of the best info on him, you can go to The Supreme Court Nomination Blog (the sister blog to the SCOTUSBlog). Good stuff.

2) The end of Teddy Bart's Round Table? Wow. This was surprising...at least to me. This just after I had gotten into a regular routine of listening to it in the mornings. First, Rick and Bubba...now Teddy Bart.

3) I just added a third after stumbling across this. South Knox Bubba is calling it quits?? What gives? Here's some reaction to that.

Anyway...I'm probably going to lay off the heavy blogging for the rest of the day. Lots of stuff to do (and my brain hurts).

If you haven't seen them already, I have several pictures from the trip up over at Flickr. I'll post my reactions to the trip later on as well (along with some more pictures tonight).

More: Seriously...thanks to my guest bloggers who filled in for me while I was gone. I really do appreciate it.

Also, look for the Rick Steve's approved travel vest on eBay in the near future. heh

The Reformation of Education In America

This is a subject that is dear to my heart...almost as dear to me as closing our borders and getting rid of Muslim extremists.
The education system in America is due an overhaul. I would like for this post to be a platform for your ideas on education. What in your opinion would help test scores? If you were a child what would you want to see different in education?
Here are some current thoughts on this subject. Year-round school. There is no evidence that this improves test scores but it would at least get the children prepared for the real world of working. The school day could even be shortened or lengthened. One idea is to lengthen the school day. School would start the same time and end around five p.m. This would allow for more subjects to be taught and allow for tutoring time. Also, the parents who work could pick up their children after work instead of paying for day care. There is also the idea of shortening the day where elementary students would go to school for the first half of the day and high school students would go the second half of the day.
The money factor..."Throwing money at the problem does not help the problem." It's kind of like someone who mismanages their money winning the lottery...they will even mismanage their winnings. If you raise the pay and the standards for being a teacher then you will attract highly qualified individuals. So, here is my idea about throwing money at the educational problem. PAY TEACHERS MORE!!!! And here is why. The income that teachers receive is not compatible with that of the corporate world. Now, without getting in to the whole debate of, teachers get off for Christmas and summer!!!! No they don’t. Many teacher either work extra jobs in the summers to make ends meet or take classes to further their education. Here's what happens if you pay teachers more. Their morale is eased because they know they are getting paid a good wage for their efforts. Easing the financial stress off anyone one helps them become more productive in their jobs. Now...granted there are some teachers that don’t do a good job and there are those who do an excellent job. I will address that later. Now, if you raise the starting pay for teachers by $20,000 I think most teachers would feel a sense of relief. Also, educational systems should raise the standards for hiring teachers. All teachers should have their masters. If they don’t then they have five years in the system to get their masters. If that is not done within the first five years then the teacher is let go. Tenure for teachers without masters would be five years and three years for teachers with their masters. Educational systems would be encouraged to hire teachers with master degrees. Since the educational system would be hiring qualified teachers it only makes sense to pay them more so they can pay off student loans etc. This is why you should pay teachers more. I personally know teachers that spend close to $1,000 of their own money during the year.

There should also be some sort of system to decide whether or not the teacher is going above and beyond their duties. Much like a review in the corporate world where the teacher could get a bonus for doing their job well. This may or may not encourage the teachers who are warming a seat to do a better job. If they are not doing a good job then they should be let go. However, what if a principal and a teacher do not see eye to eye on a certain teaching method and the principal decides to fire the teacher...Maybe there needs to be an advisory board. That is why I am asking you....
Also, those who sit on the school board should have to log a certain amount of hours once a month in different schools. Each board member should be given certain clusters of schools that they have to visit in and participate in teaching. This would help board members understand what it is like in the classroom and allow teachers to express their opinions in case changes needed to be made.
These are just a few of the ideas on the table. What are some of your ideas? I heard the other day that teachers should teach to the test. We do it in colleges and it would cut down on things that they don’t really need to learn. Not to say that those things wouldn’t be taught but just not emphasized right before a test. This is an idea we may need to look at.
Let the ideas begin and remember that there will be a test after words…but its open book.

Fad Diet Hits Gitmo

Succumbing to the emotional terrorism of American television, vacationers at the world famous Sandals Guantanamo Bay have begun starving themselves as a result of society's unrealistic expectations of male body image.

Hat tip to Glen Dean over at Nashville Truth for caring enough to remember our sunny castaways. Often times symptoms of anorexia can go unnoticed. Wearing baggy clothes, feelings of worthlessness, agitation, withdrawal and suicidal tendencies have long been the hallmarks of this crippling mental illness but only recently have these Gitmo Ghandis toyed with the idea of expressing their dissatisfaction of Western Culture by coopting one of Western Culture's most annoying behavioral disorders. Touche Al Qaeda. Touche.

Although I must admit I prefer this form of social protest to their previous efforts.

Blake's Flickr

If you havent seen Blake's picts from his Muldova trip you should check them out. He is still there and has posted several on his flickr account.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blakewylie/

Book times are good for you

This week, you should be reading a novel.

You could, of course, be reading the literary sensation of the year. Why is it such? Because anytime you have kids (and adults) by the millions that enraptured with picture-less pages-- turning off their idiot box because the prose word is far more interesting-- that’s a great thing.

But also of note this week is the release of John Irving’s latest. Irving can be a hit or miss novelist (The Cider House Rules, The Hotel New Hampshire), but when he writes a good one, he writes a great one: The World According to Garp, A Prayer for Owen Meany. It’s impossible to determine how his books will fall until you read them, much like his favorite writer Gunter Grass, but anytime someone has the talents of combining Grass’ social tweaking with Dickensian storytelling, it’s always worth a look. Certainly compelling enough to finish if you pick it up.

But let me stop piddling around.

The main morsel this week is the release of No Country for Old Men, the new novel by the very great Cormac McCarthy, most notably the author of All the Pretty Horses. In my opinion, McCarthy is America’s greatest living novelist. Many writers are adept at transcribing the human heart and the human condition; few are masters of it; McCarthy seems to have the keenest, most honest insight, and is its greatest poet. Often compared to Faulkner, and not unfairly so, he is different in that he combines Faulkner-like curt, spare passages of dialogue with intricate, fluid (some argue magniloquent; I contend poetic) passages of description. I think anyone who has sat in quiet company with either the last of his “Tennessee” novels (Suttree) or the first of his “West” novels (Blood Meridian) would swear that in those pages was a channel to another very real world, just like stepping through an open window. It’s not surreal, just differently real, but the perspective and the provocation it brings is unforgettably enlightening. There are writers who do this (V.S. Naipaul, Thomas Pynchon and Paul Theroux’s fiction come to mind), but none intertwine the this atmosphere with the story so well, a compelling story, and that's the difference (often, I like to compare McCarthy to a combination of Ford Madox Ford or Graham Greene, Melville, and Faulkner).

This new novel is reported to be a crime story, and is written in a more linear style than his previous work, which maybe why Knopf is releasing it in mid-summer versus the usual fall release for such a “literary” novelist. It’s been getting strong reviews, as usual, but not as strong as his previous work and has been criticized for being too “lite”. I dunno. If at worst, if this means it’s like a Larry Brown novel (of which, unfortunately, we will have no more), I’ll take it every time. I think I’ve read every McCarthy book at least twice, and although it’s been six years since the last, I‘ll take what I can get. If you’ve never read McCarthy, this may be the place to start.

By the way, I don’t work for Random House.

Today, I remember a friend

The following was something I wrote in memory of my friend Captain Josh Byers. Lest anyone forget those fighting for us anywhere in the world.

____________________________________________________________

His name was Captain Josh Byers.

I met him in September 2001, in the shadow of the attacks of the 11th. I was working with my dear friends in the band Bleach, and we had flown out to Denver, Colorado to do our first show since that devastating day. The two brothers in the band, Jared and Milam, had a brother in the army stationed at Fort Carson, outside of Colorado Springs, Co. We had about a week off after that show, and the brothers were going to go visit with him. Knowing I had a particular fondness for Colorado, they extended an invitation to me to join them. Like all of us, I was shaken by the events in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania-- daily burdened by that dark liquid weight of worry and uncertainty. A few days in Colorado Springs with good friends seemed an appropriate, if only moderate, remedy.

*

I recall meeting Josh at the airport. In appearance, and in many manners, he was nothing like his brothers-- where they were rock musicians, he was a captain in the army-- but within minutes, it was obvious the three were brothers. Close brothers. And through that, I was able to see beyond my ingrained respect of this Army captain and see him a Byers brother. In other words, I could make strange jokes. Josh laughed, and made me laugh in return. I recall we got along quite immediately.

We went to eat lunch at a Chili’s restaurant. Inevitably, the subject of the attacks came up. I remember a lady sitting in a booth behind us. She kept making note of Josh’s uniform with subtle and furtive glances. When the waitress brought us our bill, she said that the woman wanted to pay for his meal. Josh found her outside to thank her, but asked her why. “I just wanted to thank you for all you do,” she said. He didn’t seem to know how to respond but with a gracious thanks.

*

I felt slightly uncomfortable at the thought of staying at the house of someone I didn’t know, but Josh and his wife Kim welcomed me as part of the family. While the brothers and Kim caught up, I recall staring out the back patio window of his house up at Pike’s Peak, reflecting upon the state of those times. It was a welcome, beautiful sight, especially with the almost musical tenor of brothers talking after an absence. Later, I was drawn into the discussion by easy humor and talk about Bleach. Josh kept going on about the band, and it was obvious he was extremely proud of Jared and Milam. We all talked until we were too tired to talk anymore.

*

The next day, we drove up Pike’s Peak in Josh’s truck. On the way, the brothers listened patiently while I pointed out places that had personal value to me from previous trips. Colorado Springs was significant to me because somehow each trip there had marked peculiarly profound moments in my life. Already, I recognized this would be another.

Perhaps that is why I knew at our first stop I wanted to get a picture of the brothers together. There is a small rest stop/gift store about ten miles from the base of the mountain that sits at a glorious view of the range. Everything that day shined: a shimmering pond reflecting the intense blue of the sky; the green of the pines and the glowing yellow of maples changing for autumn; the mountains themselves were a vibrant grey-blue; and the four of us, almost always laughing. I made Josh take off his sunglasses for a photo because I wanted to capture the laughter in his eyes.

The drive up Pike’s Peak is not for the queasy. Beyond the treeline, the road turns to gravel and narrows into quarter mile switchbacks, almost like the paths of stairwells. There are no guardrails, and often you can look just our your window to some steep drop only feet from your car. Yet there we were laughing through it. I am always nervous about not driving in a vehicle in cautious circumstances, but I was never worried with Josh. The optimistic confidence I had sensed in him the day before became well defined: even as he joked nervously about the road, I never doubted his ability. Somewhere about a mile from the top, we stopped to take in a view overlooking a steep cliff on the mountain, and it was there that I wanted a picture with this man, proof of our “daring.” In the photo, we are above the craggy rocks steeply dropping down to the green of the trees, down to the patterns of the land that roll so far as to only fade into a hazy horizon; we are smiling among the high air.

At the top, I was not surprised when he told us about how he once hiked up the mountain. He pointed to the trail that leads down to Manitou Springs. “It was hard,” he acknowledged, “and it was an all day thing, but when you get to the top you feel incredible that you’ve done it.” All I could share was how I once rode up on the cog railway.

Before we went back down, we all paused at the monument of Katherine Bates, who wrote “America the Beautiful” after her visit to the top of the mountain. It is not the most beautiful monument one could see, and perhaps in different times, when we Americans assumed so much, it would’ve been acknowledged with a nod and a “Hmm, how ‘bout that.” But not that day. We had our picture taken with us at the statue. I particularly remember Josh staring at it’s engraved lines with me, both of us quietly reading. I suspect that the blood and dust of New York and Washington also recurred in his mind, because Josh’s eyes had a cold look of distraction, like he had a job to do right then.
*

That night, Josh and Kim held a gathering at their house with some of Josh’s friends from the base. With a keg of Fat Tire beer, we turned on the tv to find the Concert for America. Josh commented that all the singers were being too dark, too melancholy, and I remember initially being bothered by the comment-after all, the nation was grieving- but later I realized that he wanted something else, something in addition: someone to sing not just of sorrowful reflection, but a song of hope, an anthem for our reconstruction and recovery.

Later, Josh got in a discussion with two friends, both who had been in the Gulf War. They talked about Afganistan.

“You don’t want to see combat,” a sergeant said. His voice had the muted tone of ugly wisdom, of unwanted experience.

“No, I’m ready,” Josh replied. “I have trained my entire life for this.” This was not the eagerness of a boy wanting in a game, ignorant of its reality. It was the voice of the skilled, sitting unused, frustrated in inactivity before a compatible task.

The sergeant acknowledged that of all the soldiers he’d ever met who had never experienced combat, Josh was one of the few who would be able to handle all its terrible complications. “But you still don’t want to be there,” he said. It was the only moment of tension on the whole trip. Josh politely shook his head in disagreement, but even in the little time I’d known him I could see the heat in his eyes; it was as if someone had missed the definition of who and what he was. I thought of the moment at the Bates statue on Pike’s Peak that day. Where I had sensed a steak of determination in him, I now saw it clear: he was a 500 horsepower engine in a gentle-mannered frame.

*

The following morning, Josh took us to the Garden of the Gods to do some rock climbing. I was apprehensive: although not terribly bothered by heights, I was definitely out of shape in a place thinner than most on air. I think Jared and Milam were feeling a bit timid, too, but again Josh’s enthusiasm ignited our own.

The Garden of the Gods is a half-mile culmination of towering sandstone rock formations. If it hadn’t been formed by a Greater Power, it is doubtful man would have dreamt up anything like its construction, yet if so, would have never achieved much more than its most simple geometries. That it rests at the base of the mountain range adds to its peculiar wonder.

I remember the haze of the early morning, the clean smell of the air, and muscles slightly tense in anticipation. We walked to the wall of one rock and Josh deftly explained the details of rock-climbing. Once he had his harness on, he began to climb up. Only later would we recognize that he was doing so without the benefit of the safety rope in place-he was doing that part for us. One by one that morning, we climbed the wall, guided by Josh’s voice, always encouraging and humming with the glorious human sound of enjoyment. I was last to climb. I remember climbing up out of the shade of the trees, and the feel of the sun off the rock face. And halfway, being so tired, but Josh urging me on, and I had this feeling of not just “I must do this” but I wanted to do it. Fifty feet up, lungs constantly feeling a breath behind, hanging on by only fingertips and toes to a wall that felt completely perpendicular, and I wanted to go on. This was a man who could definitely lead men-he had the absolute sharpest quality of leadership.

That evening, we went out to eat at a restaurant called the Red Robin. In the sunset hours, it falls under the shadow of Cheyenne Mountain, where NORAD is located. And that night, President Bush gave his first address to Congress and the nation since the September 11th attacks. The restaurant was respectfully quiet for the speech. Almost half the patrons were servicemen in uniform. It seemed so peculiar to me that I was in that place, surrounded by soldiers, looking out the window to a mountain that housed a command post for home defense, listening to the President speak in that haunting quiet. I remember looking across the table at Josh, and at some of the other patrons, and for the first time in days, I felt safe. I thought of the rock wall that morning, and thought, If our whole army is made of people of this caliber, we are invincible.

*

Every day around in the afternoon, a thunderstorm came down the mountains. Colorado Springs sits on the edge of the Rocky Mountain range, where to the west sits the towering mountains, and to the east are vast grassland plains. The air over the flatlands heats up over the day until it rises and meets the cold airs off the mountains, and true to elementary weather disciplines, creates storms. But one afternoon, the storm was particularly violent. A grey-green sky spat a hard rain peppered with hail in winds that bent even the shortest trees of the neighborhood. I said that it reminded me of the tornado weather in Texas. Josh walked outside to stare at the storm, and stood looking at it for a minute. “No, I think it’ll blow over,” he said to me. I wasn’t so sure. The rain came. Hard. And went.

*

A bright Sunday morning, we went to church. Josh taught at the Sunday school there and had apparently bragged upon his brothers, for Jared and Milam drew some attention from being members of Bleach. He and Kim seemed so well-liked. We went to lunch afterwards, and the brothers and I finally were able to talk Josh and Kim into buying their lunch as at least some token of our appreciation; they finally relented, but I think only because they wanted to leave. We literally could have been there all day.

*

There were other adventures during our stay, from old arcade games to music stores to sculptures in front yards; we made silly short films with a video camera; we drove in the driveway of a ritzy hotel; we watched Deliverance; we watched Olympic athletes train. We laughed a lot. We ate well, we prayed before each meal, and we kept the news on.

On the morning we were to leave, Josh gave all three of us a Coin of Excellence from the 7th Infantry Division from Fort Carson. I recall standing in the foyer of his house, flipping it in my hands, reading the inscription and studying its iconography. I don’t remember why he gave it to me. However, through my days of touring, it came with me not as some sort of psychological talisman, but because it reminded me of my stay and it reminded me of all the people defending me. It stayed with me until one day I almost left it in a hotel room in Indiana; from there, it stayed on my corkboard in my room, next to pictures of my family and friends. I see that corkboard every day when I wake up.

He dropped us off at the airport. I thanked him. He gave me a hug. He hugged his brothers more. Then he had to say goodbye. We waved at him while he got in his truck. He drove away. He had to get to work.

*

On July 23, 2003, Captain Josh Byers gave his life for his country while in action in Iraq.

Hero is an abused word. But the power of its true meaning is restored when describing Joshua Byers.

God bless you, Captain, and thank you.

Steve Stemac
July, 2003

I Love Me Some Cake!

For those of you who missed last night's Dancin' in the District... that's just too bad. Well, the only band worth being there for was Cake. It was great. Such a fun band live. Great lead singer who plays on his poor little guitar bound together by tape where cracks are.

Two down falls of the evening... the gross heat, and the huge intermission that was b/w Cake and their previous band. That was kinda weird.

But they played a good set, including Shadow Stabbing, a song not usually played live but one of my favorites by far.

They played a good mix of new and old, but when they came on for their encore, they played one from the new CD, and just when you thought they were going to play Rock and Roll Lifestyle... they played I Will Survive. I like their remake (don't love it) but I would have liked to hear Rock and Roll Lifestyle. That song is just great. I don't know why I love it so much. I just do!

If you missed them... I suggest you catch them next time around. They're so fun live!

The Turd Blossom

It should be at least mildly shocking:

Karl Rove leaked CIA agent Valerie Plame to the press.

But… it’s Rove we’re talking about here, and at most my reaction is just a further slinking of the spine, a drooping of the shoulders, because if you’ve been paying half attention to anything the President’s top advisor has been up to the last 6 years, you’ve suspected his sorriness all along. The revelation of Rove being the leak is only like finding the body after you’ve found the trail of blood, the crimsoned knife, and the gory, discarded clothes: a dreaded sight you knew you’d eventually find.

This one’s going to be a mess. Many considered Clinton to be the Teflon President, and as an individual that may be true, but the Bush Administration has been the Teflon Presidency. That might change now. Rove has been openly touted by W as a friend and closest advisor, and there’s no distancing now, even after the miraculous distancing feat of this President away from Ken Lay; Rove was the pirahna that savaged through that PR mess for the President, but now he’s the target of perhaps a more serious one (which seems absurd to write, considering the gargantuan damage of the Enron scandal.)

This whole thing stinks, and its timing is lousy. Consider: we are in the middle of an occupation, justly or not, of a country constantly teetering on loyalties. Defeating the insurgency, a shape-shifting menace in constant shadow, is crucially contingent upon intelligence, or in CIA speak “humint” (human intelligence). Now we’re going to demonstrate to the world that our top intelligence agents can’t even trust our own, going up to our top levels of government, and most despicably, as a result of political retribution? Even worse, how can agents feel secure when something like happens—their identities are supposed to be under mountains of granite, not in an Office atmosphere where “Top Secret” is a subjective term.

And I haven’t even begun to start on the spinelessness of Robert Novak, that pile of humanure who has the audacity of calling himself a reporter who actually dropped Plame’s name by his station in the press. It is outrageous that he still has a job, and with all outlets, CNN. So there’s a liberal media bias, huh?

Bush should fire Rove LAST YEAR. Oh, but now’s he’s pulling a Clinton, too.

Sometimes this administration makes me miss sex scandals.

Enslave Tibet

Since the halcyon days of the early 90s, I can remember seeing those obnoxious “Free Tibet” bumper stickers on cars. Mainly Volvos and Volkswagens. As if Freedom or Debt Relief comes from hippies like, rocking out, man. And for anyone with the unmitigated gall to make such shallow pronouncements on Tibet, you can bet your bottom Yuan that they never gave a crap about Taiwan.

Max Boot writes in today's LA Times of the troubling military build up in China:

“In 1998, an official People's Liberation Army publishing house brought out a treatise called "Unrestricted Warfare," written by two senior army colonels, Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui....Their different approaches include financial warfare (subverting banking systems and stock markets), drug warfare (attacking the fabric of society by flooding it with illicit drugs), psychological and media warfare (manipulating perceptions to break down enemy will), international law warfare (blocking enemy actions using multinational organizations), resource warfare (seizing control of vital natural resources), even ecological warfare (creating man-made earthquakes or other natural disasters).

Cols. Qiao and Wang write approvingly of Al Qaeda, Colombian drug lords and computer hackers who operate outside the "bandwidths understood by the American military."

But Max Boot is not alone in his concern. This comes on the heels of the Defense Department's release of their Annual Report on The Military Power of The People's Republic of China. Of course China then criticizes our report criticizing them because our people accurately interpreted the belligerent threats that their Generals have been talking about openly for years.

I'm not trying to sound any alarmist bells. Or raise the ire of Free Traders who would like nothing more than to buy overpriced tennis shoes made with slave labor or the Anti-American Left that can find no historical abuses of Communism odious enough to condemn a government that still practices them. But we are on the precipice of a showdown for natural resources that we are not going to win.

It is my most sincere belief that we must consider our dependence on foreign energy sources, oil specifically, to be a top tier national security threat. The solution that I propose is that the government offer a greater tax credit than the one we have now for alternative fuel and hybrid fuel vehicles. Having credits for upwards of 50% of a vehicle's cost spread out over the term of a vehicle's lease does not seem unreasonable to me considering the cost of going to war and the placating of hostile governments whose sole existence hinges upon a natural resource that they were just lucky enough to be sitting on. When the time comes, those same governments will be selling us out to a bidder that will consume more than we do.

Harry Potter Fans DO NOT READ

Today I saw Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I liked it. I liked it better than the original. I am a long time fan of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. It is very visually stimulating and all the Oompaloompas were played by one Oompaloompa. During the filming of the first WWCF many of the Oompaloompas were from Germany and other countries that did not speak English which is why they do not seem to know what the words are in some of the musicals. Once again, Tim Burton shows his genius by casting Deep Roy as the only Oompaloompa. He speaks English and knows all the words.

I was afraid that Depp's character would come across very Michael Jacksonesque. Not very, but some. It isnt bad though. I enjoyed it but will not add it to my DVD Library. Go see it at a matinee.

And if you are still reading this entertainment review I warned you in the title...Harry Potter dies at the end of J.K. Rowlings latest read, "The Half Blood Prince." I think this is great...I mean, its the only way he can visit with his parents and being a ghost he can now kill Voldemort. Sorry Kids...but hey, theres still one more book...hint, hint, wink, wink. ; )

TiVo Gets Pop Up Ads

The whole TiVo concept is getting thrown out the window. The whole point to buying the product is so that you can record your TV shows that you aren’t home for, and then watch them later without the commercials!

According to news reports last night, advertisers are upset that their commercials are being ignored and now as you are skipping over commercials, TiVo will now feature pop up ads. POP UP ADS! On your flippin’ TV! So wrong. Now, they will have to come up with pop up blockers for your TV.

What the flip?

Here's a good example of how pervasive media bias is. In an otherwise innocuous fluff story, brought about by some imagined outrage in The Chicago Tribune, the Associated Press makes a completely gratuitous slam against Jenna Bush in a story about a lacrosse team visiting the White House:

"The choice of footwear has prompted a mini-controversy — a flip-flop flap, if you will.

A front-page story in the Chicago Tribune included the headline "YOU WORE FLIP-FLOPS TO THE WHITE HOUSE?!" inspired by an e-mail sent to player Kate Darmody from her older brother after he saw the photo on the team's Web site."

But for some reason the AP goes on:

"In 2001, Bush's daughter Jenna, then 19, wore black flip-flops in court, along with pink capri pants and a sleeveless black shirt, when she pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of being a minor in possession of alcohol."

Nevermind that per the AP's own version of the events that Jenna Bush didn't even wear flip flops to court but rather wore black sandals.

Still not as bad as The New York Times but it's definitely getting there.

Misunderestimating McChimpyburton

Did anyone see the appointment of Roberts coming? Well some people did. Isn't this what we always say we want from polticians? Working together to find a solution and not capitulating to the unreasonable demands of capped-tooth partisans?

Regardless of Roberts' voluminous and impeccable credentials, we must all remember that this confirmation has nothing to do with competency and everything to do with abortion. As Byron York pointed out at The Corner:

“There has been a brisk traffic today in buying web addresses that could be used to oppose Edith Brown Clement, were she to become the new Supreme Court nominee. The addresses opposeclement.org and supportclement.org were both purchased by the anti-Bush Leadership Conference on Civil Rights today -- allowing the group to simultaneously oppose Clement and stop her supporters from using the pro-Clement address. Another address, stopclement.org, was purchased by the the group People for the American Way on July 8, two days after NRO published an article, "The Coming Web Attack on the Court Nominee," which outlined how not only People for the American Way, but NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Leadership Conference, and others had purchased addresses like stopgonzales.com, stopwilkinson.com, stopluttig.com, and many others.”

Groups like NARAL and the deceitfully named People For the American Way haven't been saving up their pennies and raiding the Planned Parenthood tip jar just to let some qualified candidate get confirmed to the Supreme Court. As indicated above, they've already purchased the rope, the gas, and the matches and have been stalking the courts for the opportunity to lynch somebody. Anybody.

As CreativeLiberty pointed out below, the flashing red lights on the tip of the Left Wing will invoke a filibuster against a ham sandwich. And cry. She loves to cry. As they all do.

Yesterday, 99.99% of Americans never heard of John Roberts. Within a week, these lunatic fringe groups will be calling him Hitler, saying he supports slavery, that he wants to roll back some imaginary Civil Rights clock, and won't stop until women are performing abortions on themselves with rusty coathangers.

Knowing this, let's be sure to give them something to cry about.

Supreme Court Replacement

This just in...Bush picks John Roberts to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. Official announcement tonight at 8:00 p.m. central time. The thing to watch is the group of 14, the centrist senators, as they look at this, that will be the telling factor. If that group starts to splinter from influence from the left and right then this will be a heated confirmation. Boxer did mention filibuster today speaking about the nominee earlier today.

Christian Video Games

So last night on the news they had this guy on there that is creating Christian video games. Well… here are my thoughts on that.

I can completely understand where he is coming from. What happened to the good old days of Super Mario Brothers? Video games are so disgusting now. They have alcohol, drugs, hookers; you take cars and hit cops, ridiculous.

I can understand the video game market trying to cater to an older audience as well by making gross games. I do marketing and publicity; I understand trying to tap into the taste of the demographic. However, it’s gotten a little out of hand. Video games are gross nowadays.

The man (sorry I can’t remember his name) who created the Christian game said his plan began to get kicked in action when he saw what happened at Columbine High School and heard that the two boys who did the shooting were avid fans of violent video games. No doubt they are influential on teenage behavior.

The game is set along the lines of trying to rescue Christians from Roman persecution. And while you are shooting at the Romans, you’re pointing the Sword of Salvation, designed with a big cross, and you’re not killing the Romans, you’re saving them, giving them the gift of eternal life and with each Roman saved a little “hallelujah” sound bite from The Messiah plays.

I hope this guy has success with his game. I really do. A 9-year-old on the news last night gave it a mediocre review, said it needed music and wouldn’t recommend it to his friends really, but the graphics seemed quality. It’s a good starting point.

Biggest fear for these guys is that it builds a reputation similar to that of stereotypical Christian Music. Cheesy. It’s always been my opinion the CCM music is always a step behind mainstream. You wait and see what the cool kids are doing and then try to think up a Christian alternative that’s almost as good, but never quite as great because you never take risks.

Blood Supply Crisis

Right now, there is a drastic shortage of blood supply in our country. According to the Red Cross, it has reached dangerously low levels.

In danger of over-self-glorifying myself here at the guest-blogging get-go, I’ll state that I’m a very regular giver of blood. That’s because I see this as one of the most rudimentary levels of charity we can and should do. This is remarkable because most people call me a “selfish mass,” except usually without the “m,” so my involvement at all should shame any doubters. I know people are afraid of needles and the whole blood-giving experience, and it’s not as though poking needles in my arm is one of my favorite pastimes (contrary to any rumors Blake may have spread), but it really shouldn’t be an excuse to not give if you can. Do it enough times, and you actually get used to it; I bring a CD player along and put on my favorite music to soothe me through (I, of course, usually bring along Opeth or Loreena McKennitt, depending upon my mood.)

I can’t help but see this dearth in blood donation as a barometer for the most pathetic side of our society’s self-indulgence. After the attacks in 2001, we lined up to give blood because we saw the need and the priority, even long past the point the blood supplies could be applied to the tragedy. Now, apparently the “bravery” has subsided, trumped by other daily dramas like what movie star is pregnant, and we grow more and more glassy-eyed in apathy... until the next tragedy arrives and then we'll sit up in surprise and exclaim,"Why wasn't there enough blood?"; and so, just a mere four years later we have a blood supply crisis. Just four years later. If, after a moment contemplating this you don’t at least feel the equivalent of an exasperated sigh, please go to the far far far back of the humanity line so that we can smell your sorriness the least.

And all I hear time and again is “the needles” thing. For some people, I recognize this is a paralyzing neurosis, but I admit I have little sympathy for it coming from an adult. It’s five seconds. Sure it's unpleasant, but so is sitting at traffic lights, but that doesn't stop you from going to the store. And to consider that what you’re doing may actually—read these words with your heart and mind— save a life… then the consideration shouldn’t be a blip on your day’s radar screen. Besides, I’ve seen more than a few hotties when donating, and I have found the needle to be far less painful and time-consuming than their rejections of my advances.

Did you see that word crisis up there?

Go here for the where, here for the FAQ.

Nashville's Viper Room

For those of you who don’t know, in Los Angeles there is a night club/music venue called the Viper Room (featured in movie BeCool if that helps anyone). It is a HUGE deal to play there. It’s a club where bands are discovered, record execs hang out and careers begin. Cool thing.
So, the venue that was once 12th and Porter has now been transformed into the Viper Room. Not such a cool thing.
When you have a legendary place such as LA’s Viper Room and you try to copy it, that’s more something a church youth group would do to try and be cool as opposed a once fun music venue.
While there are several other cities around the US the have Viper Rooms in their venue selection, for some reason, Nashville trying to do it is unfortunate.
We’re supposed to be pioneers in the music industry, cutting edge, a place where some of the best song writers in the country live. Having to copy LA is like admitting we are not up to snuff.

Amber Alert Issued for "Zach"

Just kidding. By now we all know that “Zach”, or whatever his name is, is safely tucked away at Love In Action. But we might not be able to say that for future “Zachs”.

As indicated in today's New York Times, inappropriately in the “Fashion & Style” section, the trauma of being offered a “do over” on choosing your sexuality picked up an odd comment from one “E. J. Friedman, a Memphis musician and writer” who said that he felt “disturbed by what he read and fired off an instant message. "I said: 'You should run away from home.”

What's more disturbing in this scenario? The fact that Zach's parents sent him to Love In Action or the fact that Zach is 16 years old and has 35 year old men acquaintances on the internet suggesting that he run away from home?

I'd “stir the storms” (whatever the hell that means), in the lingo of the NY Times headline writers, and ask why local bloggers have been so gung ho about homosexualizing the nation's youth and criticizing Zach's parents. Weren't these the same people who, a few short months ago, declared that no one had the right to interfere with Michael Schiavo starving his wife to death?

Also, how young is “too young” for your kids to be exploring their homosexual identity? Just wondering aloud here. 16? 14? 12? 8? Seriously. If Zach was 12 and his parents sent him to this camp, would the same parties still be as zealous in their attacks? And would his 30-something year old online male buddies be any less criminal for trying to lure him away from his parents?

I'm just asking because some people seem to be flirting with NAMBLA territory.

Bredesexy

"On matters like this, I would ask the public to have some trust in the process."

So says Governor Phil Bredesen as quoted in today's Daily Disgrace regarding the ongoing cover-up and shredding of files due to sexual harassment allegations that have been plaguing his administration. I would be remiss if I didn't point out that it's hard to have trust when you keep shredding the evidence, Governor.

This latest imbroglio revolves around State Correction Commissioner Quention White who “Gov. Phil Bredesen also confirmed yesterday, after questions from The Tennessean, that White himself was the subject of a sexual harassment investigation in August 2004. The complaint was deemed unfounded, the governor said. However, that statement could not be independently confirmed last night, because the top lawyer for the state Personnel Department, who investigated the complaint, shredded her notes, and there was no written report on what she found.”

See the tautological pattern yet? We can't confirm the authenticity of the complaint because we're shredding our notes as we go along. Though a yankee born and bred, Shredesen has ingeniously devised The Waffle House Offensive: Shredded, smothered, and covered.

It also appears that a month after the initial allegation was made against White that another complaint was made against his Executive Assistant. Well “How did White handle that situation?” you didn't ask. If you guessed that his EA was given a one day suspension and that six months later he was given a promotion and a pay raise – you may have what it takes to go far in Tennessee government. Of course this is all worse than I'm making it out to be. The story goes on to note that while White got divorced in January that his new girlfriend used to be a subordinate and was consequently transferred to the Department of Education. The Tennessean also noted that it was originally under the impression that White's assistant was also his girlfriend's godson. They're all denying it now. Tennessee has always been a good state for promoting family values almost as much as it promotes family members.

The coup de grace. What do you do after a spotty history of running prisons and being forced to resign as sexual harassment allegations abound? Well, you get the Governor to write you a Letter of Recommendation to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco so you can apply to be President of Southern University. Isn't this what the Catholic Church did? Somebody makes allegations so you transfer them to another parish? Except in this case you'd be transferring them from a prison to a school! Those sophomore office assistants wouldn't stand a chance. Unbelievable.

Where are our militant feminist bloggers turned shrinking violets amid this stinking abuse of power against the women who work for the state? They can get apoplectic if the Governor tries to reform their misguided Tenncare boondoggle but when it comes time to stand up for women who are being harassed at the hands of the very people they voted for we get nothing but silence.
How familiar.

Commercials at Movies

Well, lets get this guest blogging under way. I would like to address the issue of commercials at movies. While I waited to see The Fantastic Four the other night I took note of all the commercials that played before the movie. I know that the theater has to charge over a million dollars for coke and popcorn to help pay the mortgage for the elaborate building they have built. However, why do I have to sit through "The Twenty?" I feel like I am at a bar with a loud band playing and I cant talk to or hear my date or my friends because, "The Twenty" is blaring. What happened to the days when you went to the theater and anticipated two things...the new previews and the movie? Now, I don’t mind the light music and the trivia questions that some theaters provide but I did not pay to see commercials, I paid to see a movie. If I want to see commercials then I will TVo them when I get home. Here is a list of the commercials that I saw while waiting on my well-paid movie. TNT's The Closer, NBC's The Biggest Loser, www.cc.com, Cingular Wireless, Regal Entertainment Group, The Twenty, Sony Erickson, THQ Destroy All Monsters, and The Will Rogers Institute.

Now, I am a Cingular customer and I support what The Will Rogers Institute does. However, I don’t want to see their commercials right before a movie. I suggest that if you feel the same way then email these businesses and let them know. Also, tell the management of the theater. I am sure they will say to come later so that you don’t have to see the commercials. That is not always an option when you are meeting friends or wanting to get a good seat at a blockbuster movie.

Sometimes I get credit card offers in the mail along with other junk mail. Here's what I do with those self addressed stamped envelopes that the credit (debt) card companies send with their junk mail. I fold everything up and stick it back in their return envelope along with coupons or other junk mail that I receive. Why? It takes more effort than shredding it but if it is over the weight limit that the post office allows for their S.A.S.E. it costs the credit card company money. Since I didn’t sign up for their card I really don’t care to get their snail spam mail. Did you know that if you put "Return to sender" on your junk mail they sometimes will stop sending it to you.

I think if we make the the same gesture to the theater industry they may stop the commercials. I am going to keep emailing them and taking note of how many commercials run before a movie. I am not supporting any TV show that airs a commercial. I think we should just make our voices known and perhaps they will listen. Maybe they should run the commercials after the movie. Let me know what you think...

While you wait

Before the guest bloggers start posting here, you can check out the guest blogger over at Nashville is Talking this weekend.

It's the one and only Tim Morgan.

Read it.

Laugh.

Oh...and I'm doing a little blogging over here as well.

Introducing the Guest Non-Bloggers

I had said that there were going to be three guest non-bloggers, but with the intervention of a certain someone, I was compelled to take on a fourth. She should provide an interesting mix into the fold.

So...starting Sunday through Tuesday the 26th, the following people will be the official NashvilleFiles.com guest non-bloggers:

"CreativeLiberty - He's a friend of mine who is a recovering Mississippian. The good thing about being from Mississippi though is that you always have a respect for firearms ingrained into your subconscious from an early age...much like being from Alabama. This is a good thing. He works in the education field and is an artist (examples here and here)...and apparently because of that, he likes Macs. He's eventually going to have a website at CreativeLiberty.com (we've been waiting for five years for that to take place though).

"Smantix" - Some people love him, some people hate him. He's probably the most recognizable name in Nashville political blogging without actually having a blog himself. I've only met him once. His way with words and quick comebacks has a way of stirring the pot of political flames like few I have seen. I think he lives for conflict, but at the same time he knows what he's talking about.

"Stev" - Steve Stemec...or Stemec...or just Stev. Stev is probably the most eccentric of the bunch. Actually...Stev is the most eccentric person I know (which is saying a lot because I thought I was eccentric). Stev likes cigars, guns, sushi, fine liquor and music (Opeth anyone?). He's probably the most knowledgeable person when it comes to music that I know. You can sometimes find him performing sets at the Sutler on Sunday nights. I'd describe his music as a celtic/death/folksie/heart broken type of music...he'd probably describe it differently.

"EBennett" - E.Bennett is the wildcard here (no, that's not her real name). She's a last minute addition to the guest non-blogger lineup. She has some inside lines on Nashville nightlife as well as the scoop on certain Nashville alt-weekly newspapers. Guys, she is single. Guys, that's all you need to know. Mr. Roboto: stay away.

I've given them open license to talk about pretty much any subject they want to talk about, so you'll probably be seeing things discussed here that you won't normally see. This is an experiment, and I'm not really sure what to expect. Either way...I'm sure you all will enjoy it.

Bredesen and the U.N.

What do Bredesen and the U.N. have in common?

More than you think.

(link via Glenn Reynolds)

VJing in Moldova

After showing off my skills of a cameraman at News 2's Video101 "See Blog Shoot" class last weekend, I've got my first VJing "gig" (but you'd think that they would have been more cautious after my little performance per Tim Morgan).

I was quite surprised yesterday when Brittney Gilbert emailed me and asked if I would take one of their little cameras with me to Moldova to record my trip and share the footage with the station when I got back. I, of course, accepted the offer.

I was also given a few extra pointers from News 2's Dirk Mooth....such as...how to do the old switcharoo with a tape if I happen to be recording someone from the Russian mafia and they want the tape (that is, if they don't take the camera and beat me with it).

Russian mafia run-ins aside, I'm really looking forward to seeing what I can capture via video on this trip. This will also allow me to perhaps do a little more video-blogging as well. They gave me nine hours of tape with the intent of me apparently using it all. I'll see what I can do. heh

Infinite Loop

Orin Kerr: The Infinite Loop of Leak Investigations

Now, will someone let us off this ride?

Are you truly free?

In relation to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen below, think about the following:

In it's purest form...

Liberty isn't the government taking care of you
Liberty isn't dependent on status
Liberty isn't being taxed unfairly or inequitable to anyone else
Liberty isn't about receiving preferential treatment from the government
Liberty isn't having to turn over your arms
Liberty isn't having the government run every aspect of your life
Liberty isn't having to be searched without consent or a warrant
Liberty isn't having to watch over your shoulder for the government
Liberty isn't living in a police state
Liberty isn't having your property taken away and given to another
Liberty isn't receiving handouts from the government
Liberty isn't being under the ever watchful eye of the government
Liberty isn't having your freedom of speech regulated

Liberty is being yourself and being able to live your life how you wanted as long as what you do doesn't injure someone else or restrict their rights by what you do.

Now, ask yourself...are you truly free?

Bastille Day

Many people have probably been making fun of the French on Bastille Day (hey, I know it's fun and easy to do), but I would like to point out one thing: As a result of the French Revolution, mankind was given one of the greatest documents of liberty of all time.

Just over a month after the storming of the Bastille (taking place on July 14, 1789), the National Assembly of France, on August 26, 1789 ratified the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen."

I present that document for all to read in its entirety. Take it article by article and pay close attention.

-----------

Approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 1789

The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all. Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen:

Articles:

1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.

2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.

3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.

4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.

5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.

6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.

7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.

8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before the commission of the offense.

9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by law.

10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.

11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.

12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be intrusted.

13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means.

14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes.

15. Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration.

16. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all.

17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall have been previously and equitably indemnified.
-----------

Rehnquist Taken to Hospital

I just heard that Chief Justice Rehnquist was taken to the hospital for observations after complaining of a high fever.

Update: Story here.

Next Week

This past Sunday I mentioned that I will be leaving next week to head to Moldova. I will be gone for nine days, but I also said that this blog will not go inactive during that time period.

For your pleasure, I have lined up three guest bloggers to come in for those nine days to write about various things that may fit their fancy. Several blogs that I read have had guest bloggers in the past, but they always pick fellow bloggers. Not I. I'm picking non-bloggers to be my guest bloggers. It's so crazy that it might just work...perhaps.

I'll provide formal introductions on Friday (after I've provided some basic training on how to blog...heh).

Human Sex Trade in Moldova

Heather Manning, a member of the Mission to Moldova blog, has written a post this morning about human trafficking in Moldova.

Manning writes:

There are many different methods used to capture girls. Some are tricked by the promise of work in other country, many are sold by friends or family members, and some are kidnapped in the night. 26% of the girls sold into prostitution are sold by a friend, 31 % by an aquaintance, 37% by a stranger, and 1% by a family member. MSNBC did an investigation on this problem, talking to the girls who were sold into this horrible life. Please use caution in sharing this with your children. The realities of life for these girls is painful, but I do encourage you to read because this is the life that many of the girls we work with are facing.

Words alone can't be used to describe the harsh reality that these girls face if they are trafficked into prostitution (essentially it's slavery). As I've said before, 7 out of 10 girls who are in an orphanage in Moldova end up being forced into this form of slavery.

Part of our mission while over there next week is to talk to these girls and educate them. Even if our efforts save just one girl from getting caught in this web, we will have accomplished something...but let's hope we can do much more.

Go read the entire post, and also visit the MSNBC website on human trafficking.

Update: The Falesti Team (who are visiting a different orphanage...mainly for younger children) have just posted their first blog update from Moldova.

Quote of the Day

"One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation." -Thomas Reed

Be Glad

Be glad you don't live in Columbus, Ohio.

Kelo Fallout in Connecticut

It looks like the state of Connecticut is stepping in and stopping all eminent domain seizures of property there while the state government reviews its current eminent domain laws (emphasis mine):

"We need to let the public know we will address the Supreme Court ruling in a way that will produce legislation that ensures fairness and balance," state Senate president pro tem Donald E. Williams Jr. said in a statement. "In the meantime, municipalities should know that this effort is underway so there is no confusion as we go forward." House Speaker James Amann said in a separate statement: "One thing is certain -- Connecticut's eminent domain laws will be changing and our municipalities should put any property takeover plans on hold immediately."

What I really liked was Governor M. Jodi Rell's comments regarding the Supreme Court's decision in Kelo:

Rell was harsh in her criticism of the Supreme Court. "This issue," she said in a statement Monday, "is the 21st Century equivalent of the Boston Tea Party: the government taking away the rights and liberties of property owners without giving them a voice. But this time it is not a monarch wearing robes in England we are fighting -- it is five robed justices at the Supreme Court in Washington."

You know...I think she gets it...unlike some people.

Ethics Proposals

Matthew White over at South End Grounds has posted a list of suggested ethics reforms and commentary that he along with several other bloggers and citizen activists (myself included) have discussed and had concern for.

It was my suggestion to formalize this list and present it to everyone on the new ethics commission, all state legislators, and the Governor. Considering that there were no regular citizens appointed to the ethics commission, it is important that such things are put forward so that they will hear from the people instead of just lobbyists.

Be sure to head over and read his post and also voice suggestions and/or concerns of your own if you have any.

"Batman Begins" Popular with Libertarians?

Speaking of libertarianism...did you know that Batman Begins is popular especially with capitalist/conservative/libertarians? Apparently it's true.

I thought there was a reason I liked it so much.

A Quote

Heh...this is too funny...(via Samizdata)

"A libertarian is a conservative with an acknowledged vice, like say, a teenage girlfriend."

The as-ever brilliant P.J. O'Rourke (hat tip Catallarchy)

FEC Hearings

The Washington Post today has a good story on the current state of the FEC's hearings on blogs and blogging. Several prominent bloggers seem to want complete media exemption, and several non-bloggers think that they must be regulated by campaign finance laws.

The commission, which is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats and needs a majority vote to approve new policy, is expected to decide the issue this fall. Ellen L. Weintraub, one of the Democratic commissioners, said the FEC appears to have all but decided against regulating bloggers and is now hashing out what, if anything, it needs to do to protect them against government oversight. The FEC could give all bloggers the media exemption, or it could massage other provisions in the law to provide what some said would amount to similar protections.

Perhaps this will all turn out ok, but I think the best thing for the FEC to do is to just stay out of the entire debate altogether. Of course it really doesn't matter to me as I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing no matter what they decide.

(ht: Volokh Conspiracy)

Ford, Jr. Flip-Flops on Kelo

He was before it before he was against it.

Seriously...It really doesn't get any better than this.

Mission to Moldova Blog

Next Sunday I will be boarding a flight with a team from my church heading for Rome, Italy. From there we will be flying to Chisinau, Moldova. Back in February I had written about my planned mission trip, and how here I am less than a week away.

I had said that I would be blogging the trip, but I believe I've done one better and created an entirely separate blog so that several of the team members can blog the trip from both here and there.

The first team of 22 people left today for Moldova, so hopefully over the next few days (unless there are too many technological hurdles), they will be updating the blog from there.

So, I present to everyone, the Mission to Moldova Blog. Be sure to visit it and keep checking back over the next several weeks. Also, be sure to keep an eye on the Flickr Moldova photo pool.

By the way...this blog will not go inactive while I'm away...on the contrary. I have some special surprises lined up, but I'll wait till later this week before I unveil all that (contract hold outs, if you know what I mean). heh

Ethics Wish List

Here's something to add to the ethics wish list.

The Creeping Effects of McCain-Feingold

A small discussion got going in yesterday's post (regarding Russ Feingold's visit to Nashville) over the "Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act" (aka McCain-Feingold). Some felt that McCain-Feingold was not a detriment to the First Amendment at all. In their near-sightedness, they contended that it only affected large corporations who wanted to "bribe" politicians, but it didn't affect an individual's right to freedom of speech at all. Oh really?

Not only did commenter "Smantix" dispatch that argument (he really should have his own blog), but today someone sent me a link to an article out of Washington state that provides an example of just how McCain-Feingold has a creeping effect on an individual's right to freedom of speech all across the country...

In a decision some critics said could threaten press rights, a Washington state judge ruled last week that two radio hosts’ on-air comments promoting an anti-gas-tax initiative should be considered in-kind campaign contributions.
...
“Each host is entitled to his own opinion on the issues of the day,” said Dennis Kelly, a top official at Fisher Broadcasting. “We don’t agree with the premise of the ruling. If the judge’s ruling holds, it will have a chilling effect on talk and news shows across America. It was a really unwise ruling.”

Michael Silence asks, "Bloggers, do you see that train coming?" Unfortunately I do, but I will still stick beside my earlier assertion of defiance.

Doomed

Talk about impending doom...this might just be it.

Abuse of Power

Via Gunner over at No Quarters comes this link:

For motorists wondering whether police are working on a quota system, an answer can be found in Montana.

A new policy requires state troopers to stop at least one vehicle an hour, whether the driver has done anything wrong or not. But the driver doesn't have to be ticketed, so police officials say it's not a quota system.

As Gunner puts it, "'Hassle people for no reason to show them we are the power' is what they are saying in so many words.

Abuse of power...that's exactly what it is.

Not a Candidate

Let's all hope that this is true.

Three Vacancies?

Three Supreme Court vacancies at once? There's a rumour floating around that Stevens may retire as well. We'll know later today.

More: Egalia laments over the possibility of Stevens leaving...among other things.

More II: The Supreme Court Nomination Blog (sister blog to SCOTUSBlog) doesn't seem to think the rumour is true.

We do know for a fact that Justice Stevens this week interviewed a number of people for his 2006-2007 clerkships and soon thereafter starting making offers. So his retirement seems exceptionally unlikely.

Russ Feingold

If you want to see a "progressive" politician speak in Nashville, you can see Russ Feingold at the Belcourt Theatre this Saturday.

Egalia over at Tennessee Guerilla Women touts the event from Democracy for Tennessee:

The highlight is our keynote speaker U.S. SENATOR RUSS FEINGOLD of Wisconsin. Feingold is a true progressive who voted against the Patriot Act and who just over a week ago, put a resolution in front of the Senate for Bush to prepare an exit strategy for Iraq. He is the true "maverick" politician and he's going to be right here in Tennessee this Saturday night at the Belcourt Theatre at 7:00 PM.

It even mentions his possible candidacy for the Presidency. Although...I see no mention of the devastating effect that Feingold had on the First Amendment with McCain-Feingold.

Here's a guy who has had a hand in doing more harm to democracy in our republic than almost anybody else, and they are propping him up like he's some kind of hero. I guess that doesn't matter as long as he hates Bush which seems to be the only requirement for such status with "progressives" these days.

Only one thing to say

I have refrained from writing anything today about the London bombings. Everyone else has been writing about it, and not surprisingly it didn't take long before people were politicizing it. In fact, some started their mornings off by politicizing it.

Roger Abramson has apparently been feeling the same way as myself. His post is right on the mark...

I realize I sound like I'm on a high horse here, and I guess I am. But I mean--cripes--couldn't everyone just give it a rest for 24 hours? Are politics and the "who shot John?" arguments that go along with politics that flipping important?

Do you think George W. Bush is the greatest thing since sliced bread? That this is but another bump in the road in the War on Terror? That this should put some stiffen in the spines of those noodle-backed Europeans? Well, whoop-dee-do for you. Tell it to some of these people. I'm sure they'll appreciate your input.

All I have to say is this...

Today we are all Londoners.

Was an actual crime committed?

Speaking of Robert Novak, someone pointed this story out to me today. It's a December article in the Opinion Journal regarding the whole Valerie Plame "outing." The authors' contention is that, based on the law, no crime was committed in the first place.

I haven't commented really at all on this Valerie Plume mess (plenty of other bloggers have), but I did find it to be an interesting read.

Question

Does the Tennessean do any research?

Bush is the biggest obstacle

Robert Novak today: "Bush is by far the bigger obstacle in the way of a conservative court."

I couldn't agree more...especially if he nominates Gonzalez.

Sources is also reporting that Rehnquist will be announcing his retirement before the weeks is over.

More...

Gonzales trial balloons were shot down on the right, but that has not stopped leaks from the White House. If a Rehnquist vacancy now is thrown into the mix, will Bush be tempted to temporize by naming one conservative and one non-conservative? If he nominates conservative Justice Antonin Scalia as chief justice and thus creates a third confirmation, will he think he has escaped by saying he has named two conservatives? No such maneuvers will make Gonzales acceptable to the Bush base.

Nor will it be acceptable to the libertarians and real conservatives (as I've already mentioned).

Frist Bumper Sticker Sighting

I saw my first "Frist '08" bumper sticker yesterday. The picture that I attempted to make while going down I-65 didn't come out though.

Shooting in the Park

I had a group of friends who were going to the Movies in the Park at Centennial Park tonight, but I couldn't make it early due to an prior engagement. I did end up arriving later, and was informed by my friends that there had been a shooting.

According to news reports, the driver of a car was shot by a Park Ranger:

Metro Nashville Police said a man was shot several times in the chest after a Metro Park Ranger tried to stop a car that was being driven across the grass.

Police said the ranger chased the driver of the car, but that the ranger feared for his safety when he thought the car was coming toward him. Police said that’s when the ranger shot the driver of the car.

The report doesn't give many details and seems to imply that the driver was simply driving through the grass. However, from eyewitness accounts, it looked like the car had entered the park at a high rate of speed to possibly get away from the police (from what had looked like a pursuit), but the Park Rangers had blocked the exits. Some others had witnessed police cars and sirens before the shots were actually heard.

One person who witnessed the actual shooting said that the Ranger who shot the driver was beside the car before moving in front of it. From the eyewitness:

The Ranger was standing on the drivers side of the car and then walked around to the front corner of the car...it seems that the bullet holes were straight on...when I first saw the ranger and the car they were parallel with one another...the car had already started into the grass so the officer must have ran around in front of the car or at least far enough ahead of the car to fire the shots into it.

There are still several unanswered questions, but I would say that overall, it made for an interesting night at Centennial Park.

Fred Thompson in the News

Speaking of Fred Thompson...

Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee will help shepherd President Bush’s yet-to-be-named Supreme Court nominee through the Senate, the White House said today.

Thompson, 62, a Republican who is originally from Lawrenceburg, Tenn., agreed to accept the post in a telephone conversation with the president Monday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Gonzalez - 0 Kozinski - 2

Bill Quick at Daily Pundit offers another good reason to not support Gonzalez for a Supreme Court nomination...He can never support a Supreme Court nominee who thinks that the Second Amendment doesn't exist. Quick continues...

I further expect that if Bush does nominate Gonzales and is successful in pushing him through the confirmation process before October, he will seal the biggest election setback for the Republicans in decades. I know I won't be working hard to elect anybody from the "conservative" gun-grabber party. Or the liberal gun-grabber party, either.

Say Uncle added the following:

Well, a crappy, politically-motivated AG would only be a crappy, politically-motivated judge.

Indeed. However, we wouldn't have that problem if my choice for the Supreme Court was nominated.

In 2003, the 9th Circuit Court refused an en banc hearing on a case with a Second Amendment challenge (Silveira v. Lockyer). Justice Kozinski wrote a scorching dissent to this decision, and I don't think anyone could have made any better argument for the Second Amendment:

It is wrong to use some constitutional provisions as springboards for major social change while treating others like senile relatives to be cooped up in a nursing home until they quit annoying us. As guardians of the Constitution, we must be consistent in interpreting its provisions. If we adopt a jurisprudence sympathetic to individual rights, we must give broad compass to all constitutional provisions that protect individuals from tyranny. If we take a more statist approach, we must give all such provisions narrow scope. Expanding some to gargantuan proportions while discarding others like a crumpled gum wrapper is not faithfully applying the Constitution; it's using our power as federal judges to constitutionalize our personal preferences.

Read the entire dissent...it's required reading no matter where you stand on the Second Amendment.

More: Glen Dean asked if I would like Justice Janice Rogers Brown as a possible nominee. My answer: Maybe. She seems to have a good, Constitutionalist grounding, and she would be much better than Gonzalez...but not as good as Kozinski. She could be a reasonable compromise...at least to me.

Gubernatorial Straw Poll Winner

It looks like Beth Harwell was the clear winner in the straw poll for the Gubernatorial GOP nonimation.

In similar news, has former Sen. Fred Thompson gone from being a dark horse Presidential candidate to becoming a potential candidate for Governor?

Another Case for Kozinski

Today, David Bernstein over at the Volokh Conspiracy makes a case for a Kozinski nomination to the Supreme Court just as I did this weekend.

I'd also like to say that, in my humble opinion, it would be unwise for Bush to nominate Gonzalez.

4th of July...1776

I think that I will have to agree with what this old document said...

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Pretty radical, don't you think?

Before you throw back a few cold ones, shoot fireworks at each other and go out to the lake today, perhaps you should read the entire thing.

A Grudging Love for the 2nd Amendment

Aunt B. who is this weekend's guest blogger over at Nashville is Talking is a self-proclaimed "peace-nik hippie liberal picko feminist," but she's confessing that she loves the Second Amendment...and it's for all the right reasons.

She starts by citing the Castle Rock vs. Gonzalez case (which I mentioned last week) that upholds the fact that police have no duty to protect citizens. She then points out the fact that without the Second Amendment, the other Amendments in the Bill of Rights are useless.

My response: Exactly!

You'd better go read it...it's well worth it.

It's time for a Constitutionalist

Representative Nancy Pelosi on the Supreme Court's ruling in eminent domain: "This is almost as if God has spoken."

Pelosi was saying this in response to an amendment added to a spending bill in the House which would shut off Federal funding going to cities that employ the new authority of eminent domain as a result of Kelo vs. City of New London. That bill passed with a vote of 231-189 (*note: Congressman and candidate for US Senate Harold Ford, Jr. voted against this bill as he thinks that Kelo was a good decision).

As an aside...The unfortunate thing is that Congress has almost unlimited power when it comes to swaying local governments in a particular direction with its use of Federal dollars. However, that's a subject for a different time.

Mrs. Pelosi should take note that the Supreme Court is not God. They are only supposed to be a check and a balance...just like Congress...and just like the executive branch.

Some people (i.e...NOW, Pelosi, Ford, Jr.) apparently wish to see the Supreme Court as an oligarchy that has the final say on everything in this country. Of course, that is as long as it's decisions favor their particular social agenda(s). This type of mindset has caused the creation of a court that no longer interprets the United States Constitution as they are supposed to. What those on the left can't understand is that this, in turn, allows the creation of a bigger government that goes well beyond its Constitutional limitations. It was Thomas Jefferson who said, "Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have .... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

That is why it is so imperative that Sandra Day O'Connor's replacement be a strict Constitutionalist. When the government is allowed to do things beyond it's Constitutional limitations (this includes all three branches of government), liberty is diminished.

Kelo is the most recent example of liberty lost, but perhaps it came at a perfect time. Perhaps it will spark a movement for the nomination and confirmation of a justice to the Supreme Court that will no longer follow the path of his or her personal whims or someone else's social agenda (or even international whims such as Justice Ginsburg seems to follow). The only litmus test that is needed for a Supreme Court justice is that they understand and follow the original intent of the Constitution.

That's why here in "Catoland," I support the nomination of Justice Alex Kozinski from the 9th Circuit Court. Every American who cherishes liberty should as well.

Gubernatorial Straw Poll

Several right-leaning sites around the state are conducting a survey of readers to see who would be the most popular choice as a Republican candidate for the 2006 Gubernatorial race in Tennessee. Please cast your vote, and the combined results will be shown after the holiday weekend.

Two Words - Supreme Court

I just got back from out of town and only have a few minutes, but I wanted to say two words: Alex Kozinski

He's the first one