I Wonder

I wonder if this guy is going to keep attention focused on Phil Bredesen's Troopergate in order to divert attention away from Sarah Palin's Troopergate.  He's already calling her "Ronald Reagan in heels," which itself is an image I didn't need stuck in my mind.

Memphis/Shelby County Prepares for 3,000 Gustav Evacuees

1,500 evacuees arrive on Sunday.

Tennessee Farmer in Denver Underscores Dem's Rural Problem

TO blogger Rachel Ferris writes the following dispatch from Denver about a Tennessee farmer's comments to Obama Rural Vote Director Todd Campbell during the sparse Rural Council Caucus session at the Democratic Convention:

Democrats have largely ceded rural areas to Republicans, especially in national and statewide races. The modern Democratic Party is, for the most part, an urban one. That’s not a bad thing. As Rural America loses population, its political influence dissipates as well.

The decline of the farmer was never more evident when, at the end of the caucus, the council opened the floor to questions. David Harper, a row cropper and pasture farmer from Hartsville, Tennessee, stood up to ask if Obama had bothered to engage the Farm Bureau, a non-partisan organization that looks after the interests of its members while simultaneously offering them insurance. Campbell’s roundabout answer was that the Obama campaign intends to reach out to as many rural organizations as possible. Hartman then turned to the audience and asked, holding his hand up, “Are there any farm owners here?” One other hand crept up, belonging to an elderly woman with gaunt, weathered skin stretched across her cheekbones. Hartman turned back to Campbell at the podium and said “That’s rural America…and I’m real concerned about that.”

I'm All for Piling on Phil Bredesen When He Cracks Arrogant, Which is Most of the Time, But There is Some "There" There

I cannot argue with what most of Andy Axel has to say about our pompous Governor, but is what Phil Bredesen said about Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama that far afield from what more liberal, more reputable critics are saying of him?

Witness well-regarded über-blogger Josh Marshall's comparison of the McCain campaign's clarity and the Obama campaign's vagueness just today:

McCain's message is pretty clear and essentially twofold: 1) Obama is, in so many words, a frivolous phony, someone who really doesn't have any business running for president. 2) McCain is a strong leader who can defend the country. There are all sorts of sub- and secondary themes -- Obama's an outsider, questionably American, etc. But all the nitty gritty points are subservient to those two interlocking messages.

From Obama, honestly, I don't sense a really clear message. There are attacks on McCain, some of which are quite good. There are positive uplifting commercials. And there are ads/messages targeted to particular states -- like Yucca Mountain in Nevada and the DHL layoffs in Ohio. But it's hard for me to come up with a clear cut Obama message in way that it's pretty simple for me to do with McCain. Even the 'change' message, which is the basis of Obama's campaign, seems much more diffuse to me than it was during the primaries.

While I agree with those who say that Phil Bredesen is no one to be giving advice on how to connect with common people, I also agree that the Obama campaign must do a better job of framing the national debate more simply on why average Joes and Janes would be better off voting for him. Might Obama's swooning poll numbers have something to do with the diffusion of a simple message that was easier in the primaries?

Who's the Cat Who Won't Cop Out?

Funk icon and native Tennessean Isaac Hayes has passed (born in Covington, died in Memphis).

The "hot buttered soul" has gone on.

State Makes Park Security Measures Official

Tennessee Parks officials have released an official map of the location of the 911 call stations being installed at Bicentennial Mall State Park (although misspelling "Bicentennial"). Thanks to Rob Robinson for forwarding it to me:


It's been too long in coming for measures that I was told were impossible for state parks.

Tennessee Tops in Predatory Patronage, But Not in Minimum Wage

A 277% increase in donations that campaigns have received from the predatory lending industry has put Tennessee in a crappy upper eschelon, which has to have an entropic effect on any progress the state makes to reform predatory lending.

For Tennessee's working people something's got to give somewhere, but it isn't giving on wages, as Tennessee is not ranked among states leading on minimum wages.  Predatory lenders are spending six figures on candidates to make sure that consumers will pay whatever they say consumers should pay, but Tennessee wages will not rise to assure that consumers can afford to pay any more.

They Went Back to Ohio (for Tax Breaks)

Richard Lawson is using Bridgestone's choice of Akron, OH instead of Murfreesboro for its technology center as more fodder to keep Tony Giarratana's May Town Center project on the City Paper readership radar.

However, Lawson leaves out some significant details.  According to a dispatch from Ohio it looks like Bridgestone is moving not simply because someone built them a "campus" or a "second satellite" of Akron, but because they are going to receive free money from the local government:

A state agency gave the green light Monday for Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire LLC to receive an $18 million tax break if it keeps its technical center in Akron.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority's five-member panel unanimously approved the deal, which would allow Bridgestone Firestone to pay just 25 percent of its state commercial activity tax bills for 15 years. In exchange, the company would be required to retain operations in Akron for at least 18 years.

The offer is part of an estimated $68 million economic-development package being pulled together by the state, Summit County and the city to keep the tire company's technical center in Akron.

Why would Southcomm journalist Rickard Lawson leave this not-so-minor detail out?  Perhaps because it undermines one of the cornerstone justifications Tony G.'s  minions are using:  that MTC would generate an avalanche of tax revenues to pay for public services and education without having to raise property taxes.  Acknowledgement that Tennessee and Davidson County may have to give tax revenues to corporations to relocate to Bells Bend rather than spend them on Metro schools is not exactly good brochure material.  It's more along the lines of "sex to save the friendship."

From what I can tell, a campus is not going to be the catalyst in the Bridgestone deal, because the Murfreesboro site included plans for a 125-acre mixed-use development.  MTC is planned as a 50-acre mixed-use development, and Tony Giarratana has insisted that corporations (like Bridgestone) require a minimum of 50-acre campuses (the next logical question being, why should we assume that only 50-acres of MTC is going to be enough, when suburban areas can offer two- and three- times that space?).

Of course, Richard Lawson chooses not to give a lot of information regarding Murfreesboro or why they didn't get the Bridgestone center, probably because more information doesn't serve his primary mission to carry Tony G.'s water.

Net Neutrality Favored by All "Major" Senate Challengers

Open Left reports that all of the candidates challenging incumbents and having more than $500,000 on hand (hence, the handle "major") report that they favor net neutrality (initiative to keep a robust internet available to all rather than only making it available for a few who will pay more), even though some have accepted hefty campaign contributions from Big Telecom.

In a previous post, OL had reported that Tennessee challenger to Alexander's seat, Democrat Bob Tuke, is uncommitted on the issue of net neutrality, and he has received no money from Big Telecom as of July 16. What would it take Mr. Tuke to oppose the idea of a tiered public internet that gives the wealthy better service and limits the accessibility of everyone else based on what they can pay?

Tennessee Starbucks Closings Do Not Include Nashville Stores

Here's the list of Tennessee Starbucks closings via Consumerist:

appling & us 70 7610 us hwy 70 bartlett
hwy 58 & hwy 153 4503 hwy 58 chattanooga
nonconnah pkwy & houston levee 4630 merchant pk cir collierville
hwy 51 & lanny bridges 1625 hwy 51 s covington
i-40 & pine ridge 1796 roane state hwy harriman
highland & baltimore 112 e baltimore st jackson
strawberry plains & i-40 7228 region lane knoxville
dexter & germantown 1645 n germantown pkwy memphis
germantown & market plaza 2293 n germantown pkwy memphis
riverdale & maltan 3586 riverdale rd memphis
hwy 96 @ mall cir dr 207a stones river mall blvd murfreesboro
stones river mall kiosk 1720 old fort pkwy murfreesboro
hwy 64 & hwy 194 7275 hwy 64 oakland

Property Tax Referendum Poster Child Continues to Slide from Boom to Doom

Let's pretend for a couple of years that we really don't need property taxes to fund services for our growing community and then we'll be in the same mess that Spring Hill is.

Obama about as Popular as a Hang Nail in the Middle East

Will Pew Research straighten out redneck assumptions in states like Tennessee?

Videotaped at His S-town Studios?

You may not know the issue but you probably recognize the actor:

I was a little startled when I saw it this morning at about 6:30. Then I thought, "Nah. It couldn't be him."  It's taken me a few hours to get past the state of denial.

Save Farris Bueller Robin Smith!

Who Really Plucks the Public School Marionette Strings

After watching the proceedings of last Tuesday's controversial school board meeting, CM Emily Evans informs us that the State of Tennessee is in the driver's seat over at Metro Nashville Public Schools.  All else is mere detailing.

Bipartisan Budget Accords Unretrieved by a Blue Dog

PiTW has the news on the House Appropriation Committee's rejection along partisan lines of Jim Coopers attempts at bipartisan accords on cutting spending.  Jeff Woods wants to know if Middle Tennessee can have its earmarks back now.  Did we ever deserve to lose them in the name of bipartisan accords?

Flew the Coop

Tennessee Congressman Jim Cooper is [allegedly] under FBI investigation on charges of unauthorized entrance to a cooperative electric trade group's website. That is a rather interesting way of gathering information for congressional hearings.



CLARIFICATION:  I have added above that the investigation is only reported because there is no confirmation from the FBI that they are investigating Jim Cooper.  In a post I wrote today (Friday) referring to this post, I did describe the hack job in question as "alleged," which is more factual.


UPDATE:  Outgoing Scene editor Liz Garrigan chides us to get a grip on Mr. Cooper's squeaky clean reality.

Representing Someone Else

Jim Cooper's aversion to bringing home infrastructure bacon to Metropolitan Davidson County leads him to fight for reform in the Texas Hill Country. I know there were a number of Tennessee volunteers who died at the Alamo, but can't Texans fight their own utilities battles without the help of our member of Congress? When does paying our own Representative to become someone else's Davy Crockett become itself a wasteful federal earmark or a bridge to no where?

Angling for the Sharks

Earlier in June, I linked an ACORN foreclosures ranking of Attorneys General, which gave the TN AG a "B." It turns out that two AGs receiving "A's" from other states are reaffirming ACORN's grading curve by filing suit against Countrywide Financial for deception and fraud.

At Least We Finished Ahead of Alabama, Mississippi, and West Virginia!

Annie E. Casey Foundation ranks Tennessee 42nd in protecting its children from a life of poverty.

Maybe we'll catch Kentucky the next time around.

HT: Facing South

TDOT Fails to Work with Metro on Rosa Parks' Bike Lanes

A few days ago, Freddie O'Connell let the Salemtown neighborhood association know that, with new paving of Rosa Parks Boulevard, there was a failure to install bike lanes, but he wrote that the problem should be solved by the end of the month.

Here's Freddie's account on from the Salemtown email list:

as soon as I noticed that Rosa L. Parks was being stripped for resurfacing, I began inquiring about whether the new surface would include bike lanes since the section between Jefferson and I-65 is a designated bike route. It's a good thing I did because it's a state highway, and TDOT is notorious for its lack of coordination of Metro on projects like this. Fortunately, the Metro bike/ped coordinator is now working on a solution that will include bike lanes for much of the stretch being resurfaced.

Considering the number of kids on bikes around here and the number of people pursuing transportation alternatives, not all of whom know the rules of the road or the best practices in bike safety, I think it's important that the infrastructure itself provide safe pathways for cyclists and pedestrians.

Similarly, I think it's important that we continue to ensure that the state and Metro cannot get by shortchanging neighborhoods that have historically suffered from socioeconomic doldrums thinking that no one will notice or care.