Wednesday, August 30, 2006

In other news...a little perspective here

According to the World Health Organization, Oxfam and UNICEF, 14,500,000 children (aged 18 and under) die each year from abuse, crime, beatings, lack of food, rapes, nurder, lack of medical care, poor living conditions, and political agendas.

The vast majority of these children were not named JonBenet Ramsey.

Important Cultural Note, or a Bridge not far enough away

Fergie (of Black Eyed Peas fame) has a new song out called 'London Bridge'. I certainly hope that Gwen Stefani is getting royalties for Fergie's new hit, because it is the biggest rip-off since theaters charged admission for Gigli.

A few times I've been around that track
So it's not just gonna happen like that
Because I ain't no 'London Bridge' girl
I ain't no 'London Bridge girl

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Why is this man smiling, or, Let's gin out Rummy



When all else fails, blame the media and call your critics confused cowards. Let's see, what story are we up to now: we had to attack Iraq because of 9/11, WMD, mushroom cloud , oh ok, seeds of democracy, that's the ticket. We would be greeted as liberators and the war would pay for itself by oil revenue . The attacks on 9/11 were directly connected to Saddam, Al Queda agents working with Saddam, terrorists who were financed by Iraq, Saudia Arabia, Syria, Iran, and Pakistan.

The insurgency sectarian conlict is in its death throes uh, is not so bad now that we've moved a lot of our troops into Baghdad. The Iraqi army has 902 battle ready units.

Why does this man still have a job? A tenent certainly part of conservative philosophy is individual accountablity. Where is the accountability?

If you still believe the Iraqi war is the right thing to do, how can you support a man who has so completely bungled the execution of the post-war plans. How can you support a man who has been wrong on nearly every aspect of troop deployment and who fires or demotes anyone who dares disagree publicly? There were not and still are not enough troops to carry out operations successfully - if you believe in the mission.

If you believe, as I do, that the Iraqi war is a gigantic mistake, and a diversion from fighting terrorism, there is little good anyone of us can say about the man.

The continuing tactic of blaming the media and name-blaming opponents is sickening in the face of the horror that is Baghdad. Not one damn member of the media killed any one of the 2,600 American military who have died in this conflict. Not one damn media member killed the nearly 60,000 Iraqi civilians who have died because of this conflict.

Please get this straight. Please hear this. Being opposed to the war in Iraq is NOT the same as being opposed to fighting the war on terror. Being opposed to the war in Iraq is not saying that Saddam and the Islamo-fascists are good and should be appeased. Being opposed to the war, at least in this quarter, is saying that all we are doing is strengthening a true terror-state, Iran.

Being opposed to the war is not saying that no good has come out of this, but we who are opposed to the war believe strongly that the center will not and cannot hold.

This war has destroyed goodwill towards our country all around the world. This war HAS NOT STOPPED TERRORISM, nor will it.

Terrorism will be fought by intelligience, police actions, targeted destruction of terrorist entities, and with a united front of nations who do not stand for terrorism.

Telling us the media is to blame and that we support terrorism because we don't particularly care for the way the Iraqi conflict is working out is just damnable nonsense.

Calling veterans who oppose the war cowards and appeasers is obscene.

President Bush, FIRE THIS muckheaded martinet. Where is the accountability?

Monday, August 28, 2006

Karr wreck, or, 14 minutes, 50 seconds and counting..



Time's nearly up, buh bye. Anything else you'd like to confess? Don't go away mad..just GO AWAY!

Attention Stephen King fans, or, my first PSA

The name of Stephen King's novel is 'SALEM'S LOT'. There is no 'S' after the 'T' in the word 'LOT'. I just don't want you to be disappointed when you are looking for info on one of King's early novels and you end up here.

I do like Stephen King and have read most of his non-Dark Tower stuff. I think when he wants to, and when he utilizes a self-editor, that the man can write well. On the other hand, I'm not a great writer and I generally don't write about monsters or scary people, with a few exceptions.

The name of this blog is not exactly an homage to S. King, but I do owe Mr. King a fist tap, of sorts. I do live in the Salemtown neighborhood of Nashville, and I did enjoy reading Salem's Lot.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Putting the xeno back in phobia, or, we don't need no education..

The state of Colorado recently passed a law outlawing the display of foreign flags on public buildings and adjacent property, which kind of makes sense if you are talking about the state house (we don't wanna confuse the illegal immigrants).

One ridiculous consequence of this law is that a middle-school teacher was suspended for displaying foreign flags in his classroom. It should be noted that the teacher is a FREAKIN' GEOGRAPHY teacher. Is there no common sense left? I expect this kind of thing from the Phil Valentines of the world, but puhleeeze..

Maybe they should make spoken English mandatory in their Spanish classes....

And, as an aside, Colorado, your state flag is ugly. It looks more like the logo on a hockey uniform for the Canadiens.


Just trying to help...

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Sometimes I do believe in karma, or, Katherine Harris is going down in flames...



Fox News Channel/AKA Republican candidate for the Senate in the state of Florida, Katherine Harris's campaign is in shambles. She's run out of money, but not out of stupid speeches. Here's a gem from yesterday:
"If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin," Harris told interviewers from the Florida Baptist Witness, the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State Convention.


I guess that's why Senator Joe 'sinner' Lieberman was defeated.

Her outrageous conflict of interest in the 2000 Presidential elections may have finally have boomeranged. Katherine clearly doesn't have a clue about democracy or the reason this country was founded. After the election, I hope she'll take some time off and maybe audit a civics course or two or maybe she could move to Iran where theocracies seem to be in vogue.

Good RIDDANCE.

What are da odds, or, I HATE 3:15 AM phone calls


When you have three kids, even when they are all adults (and one of them is living in Peru), the phone ringing at 3:15 AM is a dread-filled sound once one awakens enough to register the noise.

Our bedroom phone is on a nightstand on my wife's side of the bed.

Phone rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring
Caller ID: a number in San Antonio Texas
a sleepy hellllo from my wife
"Is John there?"
'John???"
"yes, is John there, this is Amanda?"
phone is handed over to me
"Hello"
"Who the hell answered the phone???"
"uh, my wife"
"ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" followed by hangup

So what we have here is a wife/girlfriend trying to catch her significant other with another woman...I'm sure that happens every night, but what are the odds of getting a wrong number in Nashville and the name fits? I know my name is common, but still....whyyyyyyyy me???

PS. Wide awake until 5:30 ...thanks AMANDA from San Antonio!

All in all, we need another brick in the wall, or, I'm embarrassed to say that Floyd the Barber could gain 10 yards on these guys


Watching the Titans game last night was painful. The offense sputtered, with occasional bursts of efficiency, but the defense, man, the defense...The corners without our fearless reprobate 'Pac' are constantly overmatched. The defensive line played a sacred tune - holey holey holey while the linebackers bit on every bit of cheese tossed their way.

I predicted earlier this year that the Titans would win 6 games. I'll stick with that, but I'm beginning to worry that I was somewhat optimistic considering the defense and the fact that the Titans appear to have six 'number 3' wide receivers.



I could get 10 yards on those guys, yeah, 10 yards, Andy

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Your really can't make this stuff up, or, they should fit right in at the First Baptist Church in Saltillo..

Order yer own HERE. I'm sorry but these kids look more like they are girding up for a Klan rally or Sunday school at the Fellowship Baptist Church in Saltillo, Mississippi.

Pharmaceutically happy, or, take em' if you need em'

Had barbecue for lunch at the best bbq joint in our town (you know the place..) with some friends where the topic of painkillers came up (not because of the food, thankyou) and I weighed in that you should take em' if you need em' because you heal much better when you're not hurting, a fact which I earnestly believe to be true.

However, painkillers, something that I've been using lately, usually have other effects alongside the anodyne artform. I've been getting the non-Venus hum and the blue blue bird of sadness flying through the cortex. I wanna stay inside, be sedated, and not connect. So, when you get sad, what do ya do? Do sad songs make it better or do you need a sonic-youthful kick in the ass?

What would THESE guys do?

Friday, August 25, 2006

Serial Killers, or, Top Ten TV most memorable TV characters

Joe Powell of 'Cup of Joe Powell' fame has a great Friday afternoon question:
Who are the ten most memorable TV characters


Here are mine, in no particular order:

Basil Fawlty (Fawlty Towers) - John Cleese

Mary Tyler Moore (D.V Dyke and her show)

Andre Braugher from Homicide

Homer Simpson (d'oh!)

George Castanza - Seinfeld(Jason Alexander)

Jackie Gleason (Honeymooner's) so sue me..i'm older than most of you and he has been the inspiration for countless TV sitcom characters

Lucille Ball (for the 'I love Lucy' shows, not the dreadful 'Lucy Show')

Don Knotts as Barney

Sarah Michelle Geller (Buffy)

James Gandolfini (Sopranos)

As usual, with lists like these, there are probably another 20 characters that could easily be in anyone's Top 10..Kristin Bell as Veronica Mars, Shatner as Captain Kirk, Tony Randall in Odd Couple, A host of people from SNL, Alan Alda in M*A*S*H, Cosby as Dr. Huxtable....

Pacman's Rolling Dumbass Revue, or, something is happening here and you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. JONES


The 'new' Pacman appears to be behaving much like the old Pacman. Pac was arrested last night at a bar in Murfreesboro (Sweetwater Saloon) after an altercation with his female companion. Pacman apparently is taking his drinking out of Davidson and his new property-tax-haven home in Williamson county by moving the Pacman show to Rutherford county.

Channel 2 had some footage of his release from jail, where he had been held on two misdemeanor charges. Pacman claimed racial profiling led to his arrest. Yeah, Pac, white folks hardly ever get arrested in bar altercations.

I can speak to this one personally..someone I love dearly once got arrested in a bar in Murfreesboro and I can verify that racial profiling was not involved. On the other hand, I have noticed that DUMBASS PROFILING has not been curtailed.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Now that we have downgraded and debased Pluto...

Any chance some scientist-type ZAND is sitting in some Plutonian conference dissing Earth?

Based on our studies, no signs of intelligient life...it's just another moon with a moon...


Thanks to the scientists in this article, does this guy get demoted?

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Please don't cast me out for this, or, he ya Erschütterung mag es eine polaroidabbildung

You've probably already heard this great accoustic version of 'Hey Ya'. To me, the original of 'Hey Ya' by OutKast is probably the best rock/pop song of the last few years.

On the other hand, this version, below, is by a German country and Western band called Boss Hoss. First of all, they have C and W bands in Germany? Secondly, these guys really can't sing (a trait I share..), nonetheless, I feel strangely compelled to share.



yeeeeeeeeeeehawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

A Survivor season that Andrew Young might watch...

I read on Parlancheq's blog that CBS has announced the cast for this season's Survivor along with this year's gimmick. I've always been a fan of Survivor, but to me, the show has become stale and perhaps past the shark-jumping stage. Apparently, I'm not along in my waning enthusiasm. Last season's show was the lowest rated edition of Survivor.

This year, the 'tribes' will be evenly split by race and ethnicity. Sadly, no Arabs or Jews to spice things up (CBS looking to keep the Andrew Young contingent watching), but we will be getting an equal dose of whitey, african-american, hispanic, and asian. If nothing else, various stereotypes will be tested and hopefully, the losers won't be required to be groundkeepers for the winners.

The host, Jeff Probst, who's act wore thin somewhere back in season one, has this to say about the separate but equal casting:

"It's not just 18 white people," Probst told the magazine. "Suddenly you have new slang, new rituals--people doing things like making fire in ways that haven't been done on Survivor. I think we have a season where people will say you can never go back to what you were before."

Do Asian's make fire differently than white folks??? Hopefully, the white folks won't use their fire-power to burn crosses.

Personally, I think the show is on its last legs. Unless the four teams consisted of Neo-cons, Hezbollah, Shiites, and Sunnis, that is...now THAT would be fun.

FT: Parlancheq

Please get well, Governor Bredesen.....



YiKeS!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

No, I mean it, really, you're killing me...stop...don't forget to tip your waiters..

Oklahoma Senator James Inofe speaking today (August 22nd) on the war in Iraq and the UN:

U.S. involvement in Iraq has been incredibly successful and developments there have been "nothing short of a miracle," Sen. James Inhofe said Monday.

During his half-hour speech before the Tulsa Metro Chamber at the Doubletree Hotel at Warren Place, Inhofe called the United Nations an "absolute disaster" whose peacekeepers in Africa have been "going around teaching girls to be prostitutes."


What freakin' color is the sky in yours and Hastert's world? Can you get your myopic eyes away from the Bush-cheerleaders on Fox News and read or watch some real news?

What we need more than ever is Sam Kinison screaming his lungs out at these non-thinking sycophantic nutwing myopic blowhards...

'It's going WELL...WELLLLLLLLLLLLL...FEMA dealing with Katrina went WELL compared to the war in IRAQ...IT'S GOING WELL....Since only 3,400 civilians were killed last month..

Or maybe we just need a dose of the angry John Lennon..

I've had enough of reading things
by neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians
All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth now

All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth now
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
All I want is the truth





Isn't there just one damn politician who can break down and cry, and say, even in a whisper.."I was wrong...so wrong"....

Can you hear me now, or, THERE's that stupid sponge...

Tomorrow's doctor visit is my topic,
the top-down procedure endoscopic,
I pray that the tube,
is really well lubed,
and the doctor is non-misanthropic.

Wish me well, and I promise no pictures and no live blogging!

A more innocent time...


Apparently, the Stones weren't using Hell's Angels for security for this gig.

This is 41 years ago. My parents HATED this. Made me love it all that much more.

F(ist)T(ap) to Sharon Cobb.

Monday, August 21, 2006

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.-Benjamin Franklin

stay the course, stay the course, stay the course, stay the course, stay the course..

"We're not leaving so long as I'm president," an animated Bush said in a wide-ranging White House press conference.

stay the course, stay the course, stay the course, stay the course..stay the course, stay the course, stay the course, stay the course..stay the course, stay the course, stay the course, stay the course..stay the course, stay the course, stay the course, stay the course..stay the course, stay the course, stay the course, stay the course..stay the course, stay the course, stay the course, stay the course..stay the course

Got Milk?

It's either a miracle or a scam by Indian dairy farmers.....

According to the Washington Post:

Hundreds of thousands of Indians thronged temples across India on Monday in the belief that statues of Hindu gods were drinking milk.



Personally, I'm with Vive42 where I glommed this story. Scientists are just no fun.

B. Dylan said it best..'the geometry of innocent flesh on the bone, caused Galileo's math book to be thrown...'. The mysteries of life are so much more interesting when we don't molecule em' down into nothingness.

Oh, Osama better not run for office now, or, Racist quips aren't just for right-wingers or former UN ambassadors anymore

Osama Bin Laden's former 'girlfriend' claims that her terrorist-ex-boyfriend had a thang for Whitney Houston, and once threatened to have Bobby Brown killed (insert tasteless comment here....).

Despite his predilection for the non-Caucasian Ms. Houston, Osama stated:

"African women are only good for a man's lower pleasures," bin Laden supposedly said. "What need do you have for a womb?"

Apparently there is no cave-dwelling-in-Pakistan equivalent of Aunt B.

Another tidbit in the story is that the ex-g-friend would find copies of Playboy in Osama's briefcase. Was there enough light in the caves to just read the articles?

Take off those red-state shades, or, Doc, my left eye is weaker than my right eye..

I don't care who you are, THIS is funny. The NY Times, like I've never seen it..

ft: David Frum's Diary

Boston Massacre III, or, why I"m sleepy this morning..

Yankees win in 10 innings in a come-from-behind win..I"m channeling August 1978 when the Yanks visited Fenway four games behind in the standings and just beat the Sox to a near-bloody pulp.

Yanks won last night 8-5, in case ya missed it (o:.

Whooooohoooooo....

Sunday, August 20, 2006

letting the days go by, or , primitive cool


This weekend the wife and I trundled down to Alabama and up the mountain to Mentone to breathe some real air and stay in our favorite 'frou frou'-free bed and breakfast (trust me when I tell you that the place isn't as 'cutsey' as the linked pic). The mountains of northern Alabama and Georgia are replete with killer views, little creatures, primitive churches and folk art.

The king of em' all, when it comes to folk art is the late great Howard Finster. He painted that Talking Heads album cover (I miss album covers...sigh) and about a million other iconic pieces. The reason this has anything to do with anything is that Finster's Paradise Garden (home and gallery and strange-outbuildings) is in Summerville, Ga, which is just down the road apiece from where we were staying.

Naturally, as REM once said, it was time for a Pil-gri-mage, and so we went. Sadly, the Gardens were closed for the day, but we did get to see his amazing garage door (completely covered in angels, snakes and scripture, and get a glimpse of this..

which was built by Howard, his own self. We're gonna go back (It is open from 10:00 to 4:00 on Saturday's...we got there about 4:30 )o: .

Finster was a man of visions, and I'm not talking about the kind of visions a biz person has of things like Google, white-out, or spinning rims on car wheels...I"m talking about the burning-bush-angelic-host-chariots-of-fire-God's-terrible-swift-sword kinda thing. I think that kids can sometimes touch these kind of things before they are socialized into thinking that these things are just not right. Once in a while a few dreamers slip through the gates and refuse to normalize...Howard was one of those...R.I.P Howard Finster.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Yankees 123, Red Sox 10...and other news...

Ok, I realize this may disqualify me for friendship with more than one blogger, but I'm a Yankee fan and have been since, gasp..i'm old, 1960. Sadly, none of the early years were spent prenatally.

There are many highpoints in the sporting life...March Madness, NFL playoffs, World Series, but my absolute favorite is when the Yankees play the Sox. I lived in NY for several years and was able to get into 'THE STADIUM' for a few of those games, and I don't think I'll ever see anything like that again.

Anyway, the Yanks are playing up in Fenway in a rare 5 game series, and I do like the way this is starting out......(c;
*************************************************
In other news, self-confessed J.B. Ramsey killer, J Karr has also confessed to the Lindberg baby kidnapping, the murder of Marcia Trimble, an assist in the Perry March hide-the-body sweepstakes, and to making those eerie lights down in Chapel Hill.
*************************************************
The last 10 minutes of 'Little Miss Sunshine' are worth the entire price of admission and more. The overall movie is uneven, but the casting is strong. Steve Carrill is pitch-perfect, and Toni Collette always brings something to the table. The crowed, including some in my party, were literally shreiking in laughter at the ending. This may be the only non-Disney movie I've seen where the vehicle plays a starring role (and is actually quite funny)
*************************************************
In more shocking news, I read today that one of the books on President Bush's reading list is 'The Stranger' by Albert Camus. Since the neo-con thing ain't working out so good, maybe the Prez is considering existentialism...nah, although I'm sure that the plot revolves around the murder of an Arab has NOTHING to do with the book choice...seriously, I'm nearly as surprised at this reading choice as i was last year when I read that Pacman Jones lived on Woodmont Blvd before he moved into the low-property-tax-haven of Williamson county.
*************************************************
In real news, The Young Democrats are playing the Young G.O.P. types today at Two Rivers Park at 10:30. Cookout follows. B. Krumm has promised to play, and I'm sure some other blogger-types will be on the field (Go Sean Braisted!).
*************************************************
I won't be able to attend this afternoon's meeting of the Middle Tennessee Bloggers Group at the Providence Theater in Mt. Juliet. Today's meeting will convene at the 2:20 showing of 'SNAKES ON A PLANE'
*************************************************
I'm heading out of town...sorry to miss the softball game and the SNAKES...

Friday, August 18, 2006

Maybe they should hire George Allen, or, Enhancing Walmart's Image one Arab at a time

Today's stupid racist gaffe comes from the left. Former Ambassador to the UN, Andrew Young, was recently hired by Walmart to enhance Walmart's public image. Apparently, the public doesn't include Arabs, Jews, or Koreans..

Andrew Young resigned from that post last night after telling an African-American newspaper that Jewish, Arab and Korean shop owners had “ripped off” urban communities for years, “selling us stale bread, and bad meat and wilted vegetables.”

In the interview, published yesterday in The Los Angeles Sentinel, a weekly, Mr. Young said that Wal-Mart “should” displace mom-and-pop stores in urban neighborhoods.

“You see those are the people who have been overcharging us,” he said of the owners of the small stores, “and they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they’ve ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it’s Arabs.”


The resignation from the Walmart post was followed by the requisite apology.

“It’s against everything I ever thought in my life,”
.

Now that Young's mouth has outpaced his thoughts, perhaps he should think about retiring from public life and take up swimming shutting up.

Here we see Young not receiving the B'nai B'rith Man of the Year award.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Stop, you're killing me..no, really..stop

Speaker of the House Hastert on defending our nation's borders:

"I always say if we can protect Iraq's borders against Syria and, you know, Jordan, and everyplace else, Iran, we can protect our own borders," he said.

Meanwhile back on planet earth..from a BBC reporter reporting FROM Iraq's border:

the task is vast.

The border that rings Iraq is 3,650 kilometres long; most of it as porous as the sand on which it's drawn....

the challenge is enormous.

Last Wednesday, a joint unit of US Special Forces, Ukrainian troops and Iraqi police challenged a group of more than seventy insurgents in the Wasit province, who they suspected of crossing from Iran.

In the fierce shoot-out that followed, 35 insurgents died, along with seven Iraqi police.

Nobody knows how many others have made it through without detection.

But they seem to be well armed and committed fighters.


This from Daniel Drezner - self-described Republican libertarian:

U.S. forces have described border towns in the area as a funnel for foreign fighters, arms and money into Iraq from Syria.


Ya know, after a while, you begin to wonder if some of these apologists are just freakin' insane, or that their Kool-Aid is spiked with, well, the political equivalent of spanish fly.

If we defend our boders from the 'mecksicun hordes' as well as the Iraqi border is defended, cilantro will soon be the national herb, and our soccer will improve exponentially....(and maybe, Jimmy Smits WILL be elected president)

Meanwhile back in Iraq (and a hard place), or, and THESE are his friends...

I know that there are still some good souls that support the war in Iraq, but I'm becoming more and more amazed by the depth of criticism about Bush and his administration by people who are naturally inclined to support him. I came across an English writer - Gerard Baker - through a link on NRO's Corner.

Here is something Baker wrote in March, 2005:

Little more than three years after US forces, backed by their faithful British allies, set foot in Afghanistan, the entire historical dynamic of this blighted region has already shifted.

Ignoring, fortunately, the assault from clever world opinion on America’s motives, its credibility and its ambitions, the Bush Administration set out not only to eliminate immediate threats but also to remake the Middle East. In the last month, the pace of progress has accelerated, and from Beirut to Kabul


Contrast that with a latter-day piece:

If many of us miscalculated the scale of the threat Iraq posed, there was no excuse for the woeful lack of preparation by your Administration for the task of pacifying the country.

The outcome? A broken nation on the verge of civil war, prey to the avarice of tyrannical regional neighbours, violently immolating itself and nurturing new generations of terrorists......

How’m I doin’? You rightly identified Iran as the gravest threat to the West’s long-term security and you pledged to bend US policy to ensure that it did not gain the regional hegemony that would allow it to blackmail the world into acquiescence of its hateful ideology. Above all, Iran would be stopped from getting the bomb.

The result? The despised regime in Tehran has emerged as the true hegemonic power in the region, leeching on the battered bodies politic of Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, elevating its brand of Shia fundamentalism into position as the dominant force in the Islamic world and continuing on its path towards nuclear status.

If I were a conspiracy theorist I would be starting to conclude that you were some sort of Iranian Candidate, an agent of Tehran, brilliantly executing a covert strategy to enhance the prestige and power of the ayatollahs.
.

WoW! My main (what i consider realpolitik) objection to the war all along has been that the end result will be the destabilization of the region, which will contribute mightily to the Iranian rabid Shia-types. Mr. Baker strongly supported the war in the beginning, but his assessment of the result certainly dovetails with many of us who opposed this debacle all along.


.

Perry March guilty (department of redundancy department)

March convicted on 2nd degree murder among other charges. In other news, O. J. Simpson can go back to looking for the 'golf-playing' real killers.

And "they're" probably not really good at polo either, or, Tramm dives in deeeep

Tramm Hudson, Florida Republican running for the congressional seat vacated by Katherine Harris, was recounting an experience he had in the military while crossing a river, and that some folks had more trouble than others....

"I grew up In Alabama, and I understand, and I know this from my own experience, that blacks are not the greatest swimmers or may not even know to swim."
His subsequent apology was difficult to understand because it is difficult to speak with a wingtip crammed down your throat.

Tramm is seen here with two unidentified women and his chief campaign adviser.

Something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear

Taking a few steps away from the furor of the recent terrorist plot, a few things begin to smell a bit fishy. I should say here that I really don't believe there was any grand conspiracy to boost Bush n' Blair in the polls, but on the other hand, I do believe there are elements in the Bush admin. that are not above making political gold out of terrorist straw.

While not a conspiracy, maybe there WAS a little more celebrating than necessary, and further proof that most of the MSM bought into the official story hook (as well as line and sinker)

Craig Little, a former English ambassador (I found this via Andrew Sullivan) has some interesting points:

None of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb. None had bought a plane ticket. Many did not even have passports, which given the efficiency of the UK Passport Agency would mean they couldn't be a plane bomber for quite some time.

In the absence of bombs and airline tickets, and in many cases passports, it could be pretty difficult to convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt that individuals intended to go through with suicide bombings, whatever rash stuff they may have bragged in internet chat rooms......


Then an interrogation in Pakistan revealed the details of this amazing plot to blow up multiple planes - which, rather extraordinarily, had not turned up in a year of surveillance. Of course, the interrogators of the Pakistani dictator have their ways of making people sing like canaries. As I witnessed in Uzbekistan, you can get the most extraordinary information this way. Trouble is it always tends to give the interrogators all they might want, and more, in a desperate effort to stop or avert torture. What it doesn't give is the truth.


Yeah, there are some awful people who would like to do us harm, but a little time and a little more dispassionate thought does put a different shine on the story, as well as making a person think that perhaps the 'gel', 'liquid' and 'mascara' ban on airplanes really isn't making us any safer. On the other hand, the Walgreens of this world in destination locations are making out like bandits...

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

A conservative still can't say anything racist, or, just macaque-ing around

Plenty has already been said in blog-land about George Allen's verbal insult flung at a non-supporter who apparently had been shadowing Allen's campaign stops. What always cracks me up is how many conservatives refuse to admit that a racist statement is a racist statement. Back a few months ago, when William Bennett made his 'you could abort every black baby and crime would go down' mal mot, a crack I might add I doubt he would say in front of say, a black church group, conservative apologists across the land practically pretzeled in defense of the statement *.

Now we have an intelligent Senator who randomly calls this guy...



a macaca. Macaca is not your ordinary random insult. Then they tried to say that he used the term as a variant of mohawk, as in mohawk hair cut...hmmm, does that haircut look anything like a mohawk???

Read the whole statement in context with the next topic in Allen's speech:

"Lets give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia," said Allen, who then began talking about the "war on terror."


This is nativist talk, which linked to the chain of nooses in the office (now removed), confederate flags in the office (now removed) belies the fact that this was some random insult.

Look for more apology and more trips around the area with a prominent black figure..

Not saying the dude is a stone racist..but I'm saying that this statement was a calculated racist statement, and all the apologists in all of conservative-land can do the monkey any way they wanna and it still smells.

I just gotta wonder what it would take for something to be called racist by some of these folks...

I should add here that many conservatives have taken offense at the statement, and one in particular (Roger A) makes an excellent point about Allen's future campaign:
'if some low-level operative from an opposing political campaign can get under your skin like that, how well are you going to handle real problems in the Oval Office?




* And yes, I know that Bennett was making a point AGAINST abortion and that he doesn't really wanna abort little black fetuses. I just think he could have made his point in a less offensive way.

My own ESP, or good GRIEF, how large is that finger..

I've been having a lot of GI trouble lately (not the military variety) which may either be a symptom of my age or the fact that I've not been able to throw our balky computer out the window for fear of injuring an innocent passer-by or animal.

Anyway, I paid a visit today to a really good doctor for an examination. If you are a guy, you know what is going to happen after the doc puts on 'those' gloves and mentions something about bending/turning over.

Let me give some advice to the brothers and sisters in the medical profession: It is not necessary to say, 'You're going to feel my finger'. Dude, I can feel your finger when it is two inches from my rear end!

Ridiculous waste of time..

which is why I am entranced...It's TILT, a game for the unbalanced..

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

I don't think the headings are big enough..


But, what do I know..I'm the guy who took Minima and turned it into the San Diego Padres uniforms of the 1970s!

Border guards on the Hernando-Desoto, or, Be careful what you ask for, or Jingo bells, jingo bells...

Over at B. Krumm's blog, he is polling us as to what is the most pressing issue that will confront Tennesseans over the next year. The last time I looked, 'illegal immigration reform' was about to lap the field.

I have a few questions: 1) What do we want the state legislature to do about illegal immigration? 2) Other than anecdotes, do we have any real information about the damage, if any, illegal immigrants are foisting upon the 'legal' population in Tennessee?

Do we want border guards on the Hernando-Desoto or check-points backing up traffic for miles and miles and miles?



We hear that TennCare is paying out fifteen million a year to handle the medical costs of illegals, but if you read the fine print, this is reimbursement to hospitals for emergency room expenses, NOT paying claims to undocumented workers directly. In the recent hearing on illegal immigration and Tenncare, there was NO evidence presented that illegals were actually being added to TennCare.

Federal law says that emergency rooms can't turn anyone away who presents with an emergency situation. Yeah, if the illegals weren't here, they wouldn't be presenting, but that leads to another question: how are you gonna round em' up and shiveree em' out of Tennessee? Talk about an expensive proposition........

Do we really want people with untreated TB or other communicable diseases walking around without care? Do we really want children going without immunizations? These are the questions you have to answer if you want to deny people health care based on their 'legality'.

The truth is, these people ARE paying taxes. The ironic effect of a regressive means of taxation (sales tax), is that everyone (including illegals) pays. Nobody checks for papers at the check-out counter at Krogers.

Another truth is, if the jobs dry up, the parade of illegals to Tennessee dries up. We do have a wonderful 'free' country here, but living here isn't free, and money is doing the talking and the walking with this issue.

I'm tired of being anecdoted and told we have a problem, without seeing any real evidence. I'm not saying there is no problem, but I want to know what it really is.

Jingoism and xenophobia may boost ratings for talk show hosts, and probably engenders comments I read recently that Nolensville Road is becoming a junior Tijuana (obviously the commenter has never been to the real Tijuana), but hot air does little but produce steam.

Yeah, we could bump up the penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants, but the truth is, we don't have the means of enforcement, and it would probably do little than cause employers do a more efficient job of keeping illegals off the books.

I'm not saying that our nation's borders should be opened and unguarded. I just don't see how we can legislate here in Tennessee, based on anecdotes, ignorance and fear.

Can you honestly say that illegal immigrants have had a detrimental effect on YOUR life?

Monday, August 14, 2006

He delivered a WHAT, or, I can't hear you, I have a cucumber in my....

This one is about a doctor, a woman, and a cucumber.....

The doc's blog is worth a read, even beyond the veggie tales.

ht: Parlancheq via Vive42

Now, one-stop screwing the poor, or, how much would you give me for 2,000 'Fighting Hillary all the Way' t-shirts?


Efficiency in action!

HT: Kimble Forrister

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Is that an amorphophallus in your pocket, or hey, it's been since 1939 so shut up (and hold your nose)

This post is about a Titan that really stinks. Not just kinda stinks, but waste-water-plant with a 4-day-backup-8-dead-skunks-in-the-middle-of-the-road rankness.

I'm not talking about any of our current Titans despite the fact that they continue to drop passes that literally are gifts from above dropping in their freaking hands.

I'm talking about a blooming plant in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden that hasn't bloomed since 1939. It's the amorphophallus titan and it grows up to 7 inches a day. It's also known for it's rotting corpse-like 'scent' and literally attracts hundreds, if not thousands of spectators a day.

Below is a capture from the Brooklyn Botanical Garden webcam that literally watches the smelly rarely blooming plant grow 24/7.




The plant was imported from Sumatra and can grow to a height of seven feet.

Now that T-Rac, our Titans mascot, may be in trouble for running over one of the Saint's quarterbacks it might be time for a new mascot (probably not, since it was an opponent quarterback..but, if it was Vince Young, we would be sending flowers to the T-Rac family)...anyway, maybe this plant could be the new mascot..but only if it went to AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaay games.

ht: NY Times

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Steve McNair 2.0 or, Can you read this scoreboard?


It was a really humid 82 degrees. It was a crowd abuzz with anticipation waiting to see the Vince and Reggie show. It was mostly the Reggie show, and you've got to believe there were several thousand Texan fans watching the highlights on ESPN throwing up in their mouth when they saw Reggie break off that 44 yard run, or should I say 44 yard power glide. Man, Mario Williams (1st round draft choice of the Texans instead of Reggie B) has more pressure on him to perform than Perry March's defense team.

Yeah, I was at The Colosseum LP field for most of the Titans v. Saints pre-season game, and I have a few observations.

I used to go to a lot of Hillsboro High School football games when my kids went to school there, and usually halfway through the season enough lightbulbs would burn out on the scoreboard to make the score nearly impossible to read. The Hillsboro high scoreboard at the end of the freakin' season was easier to read than the endzone scoreboard at Titan's, oop, LP field. I'm thinking that the Titanic powers that be are in the Phase II plan to impress upon the metro powers-that-be to pony up some green for a new scoreboard.

The new Titan's cheerleader outfits are to good taste what those old USA Network movies that came on at 1:00 in the morning on Friday night are to Citizen Kane.

There are approximately 382 signs advertising LP (Louisiana Pacific) products in and around the stadium. The 'signs-r-us' banner sign for LP on the south-end scoreboard is CHEESY. Do you realize that we have a minor league baseball team in the Pacific Coast League, and now a stadium named after a company named after an ocean that probably most of the population in Nashville hasn't seen?

Now that Pacman has moved from the roguish environment of Woodmont Blvd to the pastoral low-property-tax haven of Williamson county, he is only one mouth-sized piece of duct tape away from being a Pro Bowl cornerback/punt returner. The man can cover...He gave Reggie a Mongo-shot tonight that stopped Reggie like those brick walls stopped the coyote in a Road Runner cartoon. Pacman, of course, had to spoil the great play by putting the verbal smackdown on Bush instead of just going off and celebrating with his homies teammates.

Vince Young started out shaky. His second offensive series nearly featured the trifecta: his first complete pass, his first first down running from scrimmage and his first interception, but the Saint defensive back dropped the sure interception.

Later in the game, Vince threw a beautiful pass 50 yards in the air that was depressingly dropped by Roydell Williams. Yeah, Vince was a little shaky at first, and he has a lot to learn about throwing the ball away instead of trying to do to much and taking a sack, but even though his throwing motion is sidewinder instead of that ten-o-clock throw preferred by coaches throughout the known football universe, I truly believe that Vince is going to be Steve McNair 2.0 (new and improved...perhaps that is a prediction only a staggering prophet optimist should make, but I do believe, I do....

Coffee shop, sorta, comes to Salemtown-Germantown area, sorta


Ok, first of all it's a Starbucks (ok, I admit it, I actually like their coffee) and it's technically in Salemtown by the stretchiest of Salemtown border definitions.

Many years ago, my current neighborhood had it's northernmost section lopped off by what is now known as the I-65 loop. Salemtown extends from Hume on the south end to Dominican on the north end and is bounded by 8th and 3rd on the west and east sides respectively. Domincan is located at the southernmost end of Metrocenter and is on the OTHER side of the interstate from most of Salemtown. The relevance of this geography lesson is ....

According to a story sent to me by my wonderful neighbor AND a sign that just popped up on the southeast corner of 8th and Domican, a Starbucks is on its way. It really isn't intended to be a neighborhood java joint according to plan and location, and we really need a coffee-klatch outlet IN the neighborhood (how about Morgan Park Place which neatly sits almost between S-town and G-town, and, how about Bongo Java or Portland Brew or Kijiji, rather than the corporate brew?), but, caffeine addicts can't be choosers, just yet.


It is in walking distance, kinda, but crossing the access lanes to I-65 is generally a more exciting walk than I'm prone to take. I'll take it, but I (and a host of fellow neighbors) WANT MORE!

Friday, August 11, 2006

Hutchmo's World of Entertainment

You knew it had to happen: 'Liquids on a Plane'. I'm not sure that even Samuel L. Jackson can handle this one...
.......................................................................................
I am not one for cute animal pictures. I'm not sure I wanna know this person. Is it really ok to live in an age when so many people sit around waiting for a freakin' bunny to yawn? Is it just me, or does become kinda creepy after a few looks?
.......................................................................................
I would like Kristin Bell to know that I am available for succor in her time of trial. Actually, I'm available for 'Phillip Marlowe in pig-tails' in her non-trial times as well.
......................................................................................
Lindsey Lohan wants to go to Iraq to entertain the troops. Haven't they suffered enough? In this piece, Lindsey reveals her highest aspirations, and I quote (really, not kidding):
"I wanted to do what Marilyn Monroe did (during the Korean War), when she went and just set up a stage and did a concert for the troops all by herself. It's so amazing seeing that one woman just going somewhere, this beautiful sex kitten, who's basically a pinup, which is what I've always aspired to be."
Some entertainers long for Broadway, others for a gold record..Lindsey just wants to lend 13 year old boys a helping hand.
.......................................................................................
Whothehell asked for a re-make of THIS?
.......................................................................................
Who needs semitic enemies with friends like these - Dobson focuses on Mel...all is forgiven!
......................................................................................
Forget Altman, forget Bruckheimer..the MOST POPULAR DIRECTOR IN THE WORLD IS... North Korea's Dear Leader Kim Jong-il, with his latest release (and once again I'm not kidding): Diary of a Student Girl. Apparently everyone in North Korea GETS to see this movie..here is one unbiased statement from a critic (aka culture minister):
"The viewers make up their mind to live as the heroines do, saying that they want to see the film again,"
The film depicts a "North Korea's student girl works with her younger sister in pursuit of scientific endeavors. Through their work they overcome hardships, better understand their parents and are instilled with pride in the nation and its military-first policy". Forget Snakes on a Plane, just show me DIARY of a Student Girl!
.......................................................................................
And finally, we have to wonder if he was saved by the bell. Dustin Diamond aka Skreech, pinned a woman in his Omaha hotel room after she allegedly broke in to steal some jewelry (diamonds??). Skreech held the pin long enough for the police to arrive.



Thursday, August 10, 2006

hmmm, I thought we were fighting back terrorism in Iraq..

One of the many canards this administration has foisted on us is that Iraq is THE battleground on which we will defeat terrorism, and that if we don't 'stay the course' in Iraq, we will be battling the terrorists on our own beachfront.

The folks in London have already seen, felt and know that terrorism continues to be a lot more than the 'sectarian' war in Iraq.

Thank God for British intelligence and whatever role American intelligence played in today's Al-Queda arrests. The truth is that constant world-wide vigilance along with infiltration are the only ways that terrorism is going to be thwarted. This world-wide vigilance cannot be a USA-British only cooperative.

The truth is, the war in Iraq may have had noble, Wilsonian seeds (at least in the minds of some people), but it has turned into a maelstrom of sectarian, if not civil war violence. The USA will never win any popularity contests in many parts of the world, but the US can be a major force against terrorism, if we work with the majority of nations that want no part of terrorism.

The war in Iraq is now a distraction against the real war against terrorism and will continue to drain our human and financial resources unless we come to our senses.

Maybe today's win against the insidious terrorists will help us come to those senses.

Frankly speaking, I don't think she is taking it well..

Terry Frank doesn't appear to be in a reconciliatory mood re Corker's win:

The image Bob Corker left in the minds of the voter was that he was a “real conservative. The fact is, a lot of us know a lot better. A lot of the grassroots Republicans knew a lot better. The facts here folks, are that the real conservatives were outspent and outspent by a lot.

The problem for any one in the conservative movement is not that conservatism lost, it i’s that the average voter was sold a faux conservative. And he did so with the help of a few political prostitutes that provide “political coverage” for perks.

Whenever there is a big event, there will alway be whores around to capitalize. And politics is no different.


Who is she calling a 'ho'? Is she talking about Nathan Mo'?

Ideological purity must be soooooooooo stressful.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

The one where I have to explain things...(about Lieberman)

Dear conservatives - I read your blogs. I really like a lot of you. I think it is important that your views be balanced by progressive views, and that progressive views be balanced and challenged by conservative views.

In the interest of some balance to what I think is basically so far off the road that I have to comment despite the fact that I'm still dealing with the effects of a stomach virus:

1) The vote today in Connecticut is NOT about anti-semitism or about Israel or the fact that Lieberman is Jewish. Anti-semitism has been around for at least as long as Lieberman has been alive give or take 4,000 years. Yes, there is a slimy anti-semitic faction against Lieberman, but those dipwads, and their ilk, have been around for say, approximately 4,000 years. Joe has won a few elections in his portion of that timeframe.

2) The reason that Lieberman has a creditable challenger that may actually win is about ONE THING: THE WAR IN IRAQ. You know, the war that 60% of the people in the US oppose, the one that 62% of the people in the US think has been poorly executed..THAT ONE. Lieberman has not wavered in his support of that war and in his support of Bush insofar as it relates to the execution of the war. To his credit, Lieberman has not caved or equivocated in his support of the war, even though it might have helped him politically. Lieberman is an honorable man who, in this instance, is wrong-headed. If he loses, it will be because of the war.

3) Dear Michelle Malkin: the word for someone who talks excessively, spewing stupidity is logorrhea. The phrase 'diarrhea of the mouth' is disgusting and not anatomically accurate. Logorrhea is a perfectly good word that describes accurately what you are trying to say.

I hope this helps...

Monday, August 07, 2006

Ain't nothin' but a 'C' thing baaaaby *

One two, three and fo,
It's General Abazaid and Pace at your do,
ready to tell the truth, so back on up..
cause you know already the s**t is ripped up

give me the microphone first, so i can bust like a bubble..
two American generals, now you know you in trouble..

Ain't nothin' but a 'C' thing, baaaaaaaaby
we're two four-star generals and we're not craaaaaaaazy
we'll tell the truth no matter who paaaaaaaays me

I can tell you what we're fighting for,
but it's all turning into a 'C'ivil War...

But, uh, back to the lecture at hand,
they be killing each other, you gotta understand,
this here's from a general's perspective,
despite the avalanche of white house diRECtive...

Ain't nothin' but a 'C' thing, baaaaaaaaby
we're two four-star generals and we're not craaaaaaaazy
we'll tell the truth no matter who paaaaaaaays me..

RapMaster Bush:

It's like civil war this, and civil war that,
civil war that, and civil war this
,
I'm the decider, and a neo-con fox,
the iraqis declined a civil war with the ballot box

Well I"m peeping and i'm peeping and i'm creeping,
even though i got caught, cause the media quit sleeping

It's like civil war this, and civil war that,
civil war that, and civil war this,
I'm the decider, and a neo-con fox,
the iraqis declined a civil war with the ballot box

MC Public...
Your goin' down on this, cause your all alone,
ya gotta get your ass out of the safe green zone,
If you think it's not fallin' apart you have no clue,
what the shiites, and the sunnis are really gonna do..

Ain't nothing but a 'C' thang baaaaaaby
We're four-star generals and we're not craaaaaaaaazy,
we'll tell the truth, no matter who paaaaaaaaays me

You ain't gotta be there, (you're safe in the White House)
You ain't gotta be there (yeah, yeah)


* with apologies to Snoop Dog and Dr. Dre

The open letter to Corker - Be like ME!

Before he left on his vacation, Bill Hobbs wrote an open letter to primary-winning Senatorial candidate Bob Corker. Bill appeared to still be licking his wounds based on his guy (Bryant) losing, and probably still frustrated that the candidacy of Van Hilleary torpedoed Bryant.

Anyway, Bill offers lukewarm support to Corker (as if there was a snowball's chance in hell of him supporting Ford!) and then details how Corker could get his full-fledged support in 2012. I was reading the conservative litany and then realized...Bill wants Corker to be....BILL. D'oh!

I don't agree with a lot of Bill's agenda (so what..), but I do have to take issue with his characterization of a conservative as a person who supports the current war 'without hesitation'. It sounds like Bill wants Corker to be a BUSH/neo-con supporter without hesitation.

There are many conservatives who do not support this war AT ALL, much less with hesitation. George Will and Patrick Buchanan to name two...Other conservatives such as William Buckley have come to believe that we are in a no-win situation.

Supporting any war without hesitation or thought is asking Corker to be an automaton. I'm hoping that any candidate would at least question some part of this 'war's execution.

The majority of people in the USA are SICK of this war. It is a foreign policy disaster. If Lieberman loses tomorrow, it will be SOLELY because of his unflinching support for Bush's Iraq campaign.

Going back to Hobb's letter, is it really conservative doctrine to waste billions of dollars and thousands of lives? Only sychophantic partisans (read Fox News, for one) believe that this war is going well.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

What gives you the aye-thor-i-tie?

Mark Rose, over at Right Minded, quotes Rush Limbaugh on global warming (as in debunking). Rush Limbaugh has as much authority to lecture on global warming as he does to go into marriage counseling.

Global warming either is (and more and more people think it is) or it ain't. All the right-wing puffery in the world won't make it go away, and all the left-wing blathering won't make it come any faster.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

My other life..

I'm hosting over at Nashville is Talking this weekend. This would be the perfect opportunity for my sister to take the joint over and turn it into NRO jr.

Friday, August 04, 2006

New possibilities for Kay Brooks

Now that Kay has lost her legitimate bid for our school board, I'd like to suggest a new challenge for Kay. I'm thinking that the next time a vestry seat opens at St. Ann's Episcopal she should manipulate her way into office. The mere fact that she does not actually attend St. Ann's should be a mere trifle to Kay.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

At last, I've arrived, or Amanda hug and kiss..

I was driving home from Kathleen Harkey's not-so-celebratory election party feeling not-so-freaking-celebratory and then I found THIS. Life, indeed, does have meaning again.

Hey, I've always thought she should be blogging.

Get out and......

VOTE!


PS. If you're in Kathleen Harkey's district PLEASE vote for Kathleen!

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

How long must we sing this song, or Bush goes BONO



thanks to google video and onegoodmove.org

What's hot and doesn't stink?

Roughly two weeks after some withering posts from two of Salemtown's finest bloggers (ok, S-townMike and me), along with an article on the front page of the Tennessean (to which I would link except the Tennessean now wants me to PAY for looking at this old article online), the air on the North end is unmercifully heavy with humidity, but blessedly bereft of the floating miasma emitted from our neighbors to the east - the Metro Waste Water treatment plant.

You may recall that the lingering latrine olfactory treat was as much of a part of our neighborhood as the bass-knocking 'low-lows' drive-by shooting Lil Jon rap lyrics in any urban neighborhood. The company hired to haul away the sludge from the plant was running fewer trucks out of the plant and therefore leaving a LOT of aroma in and around the plant which inevitably drifted into our part of the world and probably gave a few of the folks building and selling new houses around these parts the steroidial version of the heeby jeebies.

Happily, since (or because?) the article on the front page of the Tennessean ran, the air in the hood has cleared. Area developers are smiling again. Neighborhood dogs are not yelping to stay in when it comes down for the daily walk.

Last night during our Nashville Night Out walk, we passed ten new houses either being constructed or being put up for sale, along with signs of further development. It really is an exciting time to be in the North End, esp now that we can leave our houses!

Salemtown & Germantown Hot Night Out Against Crime

Last night was the National Night Out Against Crime walk, and I would just like to say that considering that crime pretty much goes on year round, that a much more suitable night out against crime would be October 1st, when it is NOT 92 Freaking DEGREES.

Having got that out of my system (along with approximately 5 pounds weight loss), I have to say that the joint Salemtown Neighbors, True Salemtown, and Historic Germantown neighborhood association walk was a complete success. At some points during the walk we probably had 50 adults and children, many of whom joined the walk as we progressed.

The police escorts were wonderful, led by the star of the show, police-horse, Jose. Jose was a big hit with the kids.





I intended to get a shot of the entire group, but I kept lagging to the back. I did manage to make it to somewhere near the middle to get this shot. My lack of focus (and skill) as a photographer precludes the perception of what my neighbor Alan (foregound) is carrying - they are glow-necklaces which we were giving to all the neighborhood kids.



My block neighbor Caden and my down-the-street-fellow-blogging-neighbor, Kate O' brave the heat. Kate has also posted about the walk, and I believe she mentions the heat once or twice.



Our fearless Salemtown Neighbors President, Wendy Williams, was interviewed for WPLN during the walk. Wendy may have had an opinion or two to express.



A couple of kids got the royal treatment and were actually pulled or pushed the entire two mile length of the ordeal fun walk. One of the kids seemed a bit protective of the candy stash (we gave out candy along with the glow necklaces).





Despite the heat, and the jokes about the heat, this was a great effort. Working together with the True Salemtown folks and the Germantown peeps was quite rewarding and worth the braving the heat. As stated earlier, the police were wonderful and made sure we were safe at every intersection. We met a lot of neighbors along the route and perhaps gained a few participants for our Neighborhood Watch groups. Success.



Update: S-townMike also posted on the event, with much better pictures that actually better portray the size of our group. If I'm not mistaken, the pics were snapped by the lovely S-townWife.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

They musta read the Kelo decision..

Chinese authorities in the coastal Zhejiang province recently tore down a Christian church building supposedly built without permission. According to this NY Times story twenty local residents were injured during the ensuing clash between church members and the police.

The district government carried out the demolition and arrested two people involved with the illegal construction according to law,'' Xinhua quoted Qiu Youlai, a local official, as saying.

It said the church occupied an area in the booming industrial suburb where a commercial center was planned.

``Before demolishing the building, the government had negotiated with the Christians and offered a plot of land nearby for their use,'' Qiu was quoted as saying.

A Christian businesswoman from Xiaoshan told Reuters on Monday that the local government thought the land was too valuable to build a church on.


And all this time I thought it was because they just hated religion..

About me

  • I'm John H
  • From Salemtown, Tennessee, United States
  • Cruising past 50, my wife and I have reared three kids and several dogs. I work for state government and daily conspire to deflate bureacracy.
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