The True Meaning of Christmas

Erecting white-trashy plastic yard art on public property because the Bible demands display of government-sponsored kitsch (doesn't it?).

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And a "Watching the Defectives" update on the two faces of Mike Huckabee:

The candidate's message is also being tailored for his audiences. A TV ad that ran first in Iowa and is now airing in South Carolina calls him a "Christian leader" and emphasizes his unchanging views opposing abortion and same-sex marriage. "Faith doesn't just influence me. It really defines me," Mr. Huckabee says in the opening lines.

But that ad isn't airing in New Hampshire, where Republicans tend to be more concerned with economics than social issues. In fact, in a weekend of events in New Hampshire, Mr. Huckabee didn't bring up abortion, marriage or religion unless asked about it. But at his rally in Greenville earlier this month, he spoke passionately about "the value of life" and issued a call to "protect marriage." "Our worth comes from God," he said.

It's obviously working with the homeschoolers, who seem exclusively reducible to a subset of Christian evangelicals with a political agenda. Funny how "honor thy father and thy mother" can be translated literally to mean "vote as thy homeschooling parents do."

No Katrina Cottages in Their Back Yard

Only in a society where economic opportunities are on the decline for most families ravaged by natural disasters (and for the working class in general) do local communities bar the truly disadvantaged from having a short-term or long-term place to live. On the Gulf Coast it looks like class strife and hopeless city councils fighting state and federal support; one of the tests is that residents are "trying to rebuild," which assumes that they have incomes and insurance coverage that support "trying to rebuild." That's quite an assumption in the current political climate.

A Dose of Progressive Blogs in Tennessee for the Week

TennViews offers its regular round-up of liberal Tennessee bloggers today:

A weekly sampling from some of Tennessee's best and brightest bloggers:

• 10,000 Monkeys and a Camera: The Myth of "Curing" Homosexuality, bonus: excellent Friday creature
• Andy Axel: The view is exhausting
• BlountViews: Mayor attacks local paper, again, also doesn't like Russian student/cultural exchange program
• Cup of Joe Powell: More on the AT&T statewide cable franchise bill
• Enclave: Tennessee should ban pre-payment penalties, plus Asterisks
• Fletch: Friday bird blogging, plus CNBC's Mr. Drysdale
• KnoxViews: Homeschooling for religious reasons. plus Anatomy of a toxic radioactive plume (at Facing South by way of KnoxViews)
• Lean Left: Financial incentives that discourage pharmaceutical research, plus: Good argument against FISA immunity
• Left Wing Cracker: Dems in Congress: Dance with who brung'ya
• Loose TN Canon: Why pop music sucks
• NewsComa: Savage political season
• Pesky Fly: Harry on hold, plus: Remembering Ike
• Progress Nashville: If the Tennessee Lottery ran elections, plus The failure of privatization
• Resonance: Shared sacrifice, plus House protects Christmas
• RoaneViews: Tax exemptions, good and bad
• Russ McBee: ORNL data theft and me plus, Theme of the day: contempt
• Sean Braisted: (at TennViews) Sumner Dem v. Diane Black
• Sharon Cobb: The only thing the Democrat Iowa caucus will predict is who won't be president, plus Obama's Nashville HQ opening
• Silence Isn't Golden: Bye bye Freddie
• Southern Beale: Dr. Frist's new spots, plus Talking Jesus Action Figure
• Tennessee Guerilla Women: New Jersey abolishes death penalty, plus Huckabee on the Canadian National Igloo
• TennViews: What reporters should be asking candidates (Pam Strickland), plus UT McNair Scholars program in jeopardy (an update)
• Whites Creek Journal: What rule of law?
• Women's Health News: Fetal mortality rates by race/ethnicity, plus Good grooming

Like Cold Water Cast on a Dawning Drowse

All of those promises we are hearing from the campaign trail about the benefits of making the Bush tax cuts permanent are not only hallow, but dangerous for the next generation:

Simply to extend the Bush tax cuts indefinitely into the future and, as both Republicans and Democrats have vowed, prevent the alternative minimum tax from imposing an increasingly heavy burden on tens of millions of middle-class and upper middle-class taxpayers would cost the government, over the next decade, roughly $2.5 trillion in revenues now expected under current law. And that’s just the beginning.

Even without taking on any additional tasks, merely meeting the government’s existing obligations — mostly to pay for the military and to keep up with the health care and retirement needs of the elderly — would send the budget deficit soaring, pushing overall federal debt held by the public from under 50 percent of the size of the nation’s economy today to over 300 percent by 2050.

That alternative minimum tax was the one originally meant to tax the market investments of the wealthy rather than the middle and working classes. The Reagan Administration kept it and stipulated that it extend to family investments like homes.

So, ironically, making the tax cuts permanent will merely make the tax burden on middle and working class families heavier. That's going to foment even more resentment toward funding services that people demand the government provide. It's exactly the first principal of the Bush Model of Home Rule: make government so onerous that it matches every bad thing that conservatives say about it. It happened with the FEMA breakdown after Katrina, it happened with the failures of government to regulate unsafe toys out of the marketplace, and its going to happen with any future president who follows George W. Bush's tax cuts.

Tennessee Has No Ban on Homeowner-Locking Prepayment Penalties

35 states currently regulate mortgage prepayment penalties, which--at thousands of dollars--can lock homeowners with subprime loans (70% of which have prepayment penalties) but little equity into devastating interest payments. Tennessee is one of those states, but it only prohibits prepayment penalties in excess of 2% of the loan amount prepaid during the first 24 months after closing. Tennessee refuses to ban prepayment penalties, which have helped foster the current mortgage default and housing downturn situation.

However, there are 11 states that, according to the Center for Responsible Lending, "have prepayment penalty bans on broad categories of mortgage loans":

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Minnesota (banned prepayment penalties from the entire subprime market)
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• North Carolina (banned prepayment penalties from the entire subprime market)
• Ohio
• South Carolina
• Vermont

CRL reports that there is no evidence that consumers feel deprived of "choice" in those states. So, why can't Tennessee get on board, too?

HT: Progressive States Network

Racial Profiling Over at the THP

Is anyone really surprised in the current anti-immigration climate that Hispanics in Tennessee are the most likely ethnic group to be pulled over by the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the least likely to have evidence seized from their cars?

Latino Numbers in Baseball's Doping Scandal

While still waiting to see if the allegations that the biggest fish, A-Rod, might have been doping on steroids during his career, it is worth noting as one New York blog does in the wake of the Mitchell Report, that very few Latino players are named by witnesses relative to the higher numbers who play in the Majors. That comes as no surprise to the author, since steroidal pharmaceuticals banned in the U.S. are readily available over-the-counter at places like GNC in the Dominican Republic, according to Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz.

However, that explanation is tempered by the fact that the players who have been named so far were those who conspired with the specific witnesses who were willing to testify. I have a hard time believing that Latino doping use would not be at levels comparable to non-Latino use, especially if the former were using consistently and legally in their native countries. How many more witnesses are there out there who have just not come forward? And will we ever see witnesses who might actually testify to management's or an owner's collusion in the use of performance enhancing drugs to keep the Commissioner from leaving implicated players to twist in the wind on their own while absolving management?

Cavalcade of Capitalists: Senate Gives Big Oil Back Its Billions in Tax Breaks

TennNews has the largely ugly details on the U.S. Senate's overpriced holiday gift to oil executives everywhere.


UPDATE: And, as a bonus to enabling averice, they sustained the hubristic attacks on human rights: Senate Republicans blocked a U.S. House of Representatives initiative to follow the Army's filed manual and to restrict CIA interrogation methods.

Remember, some like Naomi Klein insist that pro-oil policies and the approval of torture to shock people into compliance are not at all strange bedfellows in the halls of Congress.


UPDATE: Support the troops? Republicans don't even support the Army Field Manual:

On Wednesday, 30 retired generals and admirals signed a joint letter to Congress, urging lawmakers to pass legislation requiring U.S intelligence agents to follow the Army Field Manual, which meets the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of war prisoners and prohibits torture. The House took the military leaders' advice, and passed a measure banning torture, despite the objections of 95% of the House Republican caucus.

Tag the JAGS: Bush Attempts to Rig Military Justice System

King W is "pushing to take control of the promotions of military lawyers, escalating a conflict over the independence of uniformed attorneys who have repeatedly raised objections to the White House's policies toward prisoners in the war on terrorism."

Welcome to the end of checks and balances in the military justice system. Pretty soon no one will have the chance at a fair trial in America. Control of justice will be in the hands of system lackies controlled by centralized power at the top.

And this news comes on the 216th birthday of the Bill of Rights.

HT: TPM

Between Young and the Titans, a Texan Fingers the Titans

Largely missed here in Nashville yesterday was Dallas Morning News NFL beat reporter Rick Gosselin's assessment of Vince Young and the Tennessee Titans:

Vince Young was not a polished passer in college, he was not a polished passer as an NFL rookie and he's not a polished passer now. He has the leadership and legs to win in this league, and that's carried him to this point. But he needs the arm to come around to take the next step as a quarterback. His passer efficiency rating is 66.9 is disappointing. That's slightly above the 66.4 of Rex Grossman, and everyone considers him a wash.

But I blame the Titans more than I blame Young. Give him a reason to throw the ball. The team's top three wide receivers in 2006 were gone by the time training camp rolled around in 2007. His best receiver, Roydell Williams, doesn't even rank in the NFL's top 50 in receiving. Give Young a Terrell Owens or an Andre Johnson then judge him.

Can the local sports media ever bring themselves to be this hard nosed about the team? The Tennessean's diagnosis of the Titan's death-bed condition is cruddy:

The Titans were good enough to bolt to a 6-2 record at the season's halfway point. They were fragile enough to lose the next three games by a combined 58 points.

I'm not sure the Titan's first 8 games were as strong as David Climer--who prefers to see a mystery over attributing blame--suggests. They won squeakers over Atlanta, Houston (the Texans made an amazing 4th quarter comeback after being down by 25 points), and Oakland; they could have just as easily had a 3-5 record then, which would make a dismal 4-9 now.

Perhaps if the local media had spent less time hyping the Titans' playoff chances and more time exhibiting the hard noses of writers elsewhere who look for chinks, then they wouldn't have been fooled by the Titan's collapse. And that collapse falls on the shoulders of the team's management, not on QB Young.

Devastating, Hugely Effective Anti-Huckabee Ad

The break in the narration with just the reprinted note from then Governor Mike Huckabee to a serial rapist makes this one of the more effective attack ads that I've seen in some time.

Worse than Willie Horton.

In the end, what makes Mike Huckabee's mistake so poignant now is that he has denied responsibility for it, blaming instead the parole board. Bible-toting Mike Huckabee is being dishonest about his responsibility in this parole. What does the Bible say about bearing false witness?

Concerns about Gang-Related Violence Cancels BB Games in Suburban Antioch

Gangs ruin fun for everyone.

Dean's School Dropout Task Force DOA?

There are more CEO’s than public school teachers on this panel. What’s up with that? And some Metro public school parents are noticing that the task force includes the head of an expensive, academically prestigious private school but not a single teacher or administrator from any of the city’s academic magnet schools.

- - Bruce Barry on the Mayor's just announced "Project for Student Success" Committee

Police Pursuit of Motorcyclist Ends in Salemtown

A couple of nights ago I noticed police helicopters circling around Rosa Parks Boulevard, and sometime later there were Metro Police cruisers with spotlight driving up and down our streets.

This is the report we got from the Police today about that event:

North Precinct had a pursuit involving a motorcycle on this past Tuesday night which ended up in Salemtown. We utilized the helicopter for the pursuit who guided officers into the area in order to apprehend the suspect. Our officers were not involved in the pursuit but we responded to assist in attempting to locate him but unfortunately he got away.

Police patrols of Salemtown have been noticably up since a rash of break-ins in the North End area last week. The police say this:

I'm glad you guys noticed the stepped up patrols as that is what was designed by our detail supervisors ... to have a visible presence and increased patrols in the area during the holidays.

Planning Defers Germantown Overlay Recommendation

The Planning Commission deferred a decision on Germantown's Historic Overlay proposal today based on a Planning Department's request. Reportedly, the department--which was recommending a smaller overlay footprint than the one in the proposal--received "new information" about the application, which they need more time to evaluate, according to Germantown leaders.

Clemens Deserves the Same Asterisk that People Want to Foist on Bonds; and Bush Does, Too

The real question for me in today's scandalous list of baseball players accused of using performance-enhancing drugs is whether Roger Clemens will be given the same business that Barry Bonds has been getting for months. I'm not fan of Bonds, but what is good for him ought to be good for Clemens and we should be just as ready to question the latter's stats and wonder whether he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

Also, the owners are just as culpable as the players' union for hiding and protecting doping, even our sitting President who was owner of the Texas Rangers when doping was in full bloom:

I would want to profess as little knowledge as possible if I were in his awkward position, too.

Church Expansion Pisses Off Neighbors, Obligates Taxpayers

Churches are "non-profit," eh? Sounds like a lot of profit in Knox County's largest Protestant church, which will get $12 MILLION in tax-exempt bonds for a private school. And get this: if the Baptist church fails to repay the bonds, then the Knox County taxpayers are on the hook for paying for the cost of the church expansion. Churches and parochial schools sound like a low-risk, high profit industry to me. And taxpayers sound like the patsies.

HT: Pam Strickland

Clarification: My belief that Knox taxpayers will be on the hook should the church bail should not be confused with the details of the original report, which I question. When are folk going to stop living like something can be had for nothing and stop assuming that this is all fine because a bank will clean up the mess no strings attached to the taxpayers? Just try and convince me that Suntrust won't pass the costs of a bailout on to taxpayers.


UPDATE: The Knoxville church benefitting from the bonds is First Baptist Concord. According to its latest financial report, FBC's personnel budget is $3.9 million.


UPDATE: Here's a report from July on how the church expansion plans concern the surrounding neighbors. It appears to boil down to a fear that an 8,000 member church outnumbers the voters in the local neighborhoods. FBC says that tried to reassure neighbors by saying that it wants to spend $37 million in order to "help people grow spiritually." I'm still trying to figure out what spiritual growth has to do with tens of millions of dollars.

So Much for the Stupid Coffee Stereotypes in the Media

Here's a strike against the idiotic caffeinated stereotypes (like "latte-liberals and black-coffee conservatives") that the media pushes.

According to the AP, the Republican Presidential candidates are partial to Splenda, cappuccinos, and hot chocolate, while the Dems go black, some cream, or nothing. Looks like conservatives prefer the sweetened specialty drinks.

Live! From the Suburbs!

Dedicated to minivan-mommy-bloggers everywhere (especially those "on Adkins"):

The Answer is, "No One Can Hold Their Breath Forever"

How long should we wait for public education opponents like blogging homeschooler Kay Brooks to take up the cause of those Wilson County parents who consider homeschooling their children to protect them from Christian proselytizing in Wilson County Public Schools?

HT: R. Neal