A majority of U.S. high school students say they get bored in class every day, and more than one out of five has considered dropping out, according to a survey released Wednesday.The survey of 81,000 students in 26 states found two-thirds of high school students complain of boredom, usually because the subject matter was irrelevant or their teachers didn’t seem to care about them.

OK, I’m not saying that I’m the bees’ knees of teaching, but these poor students never had the pleasure of enjoying my Constitution dance on Constitution Day each September that I performed while wearing my polyester bicentennial dress from 1976.  Neither did they witness my one-man, three-act play reenacting the events that led to the Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison.  Those were some good times in the 12th grade classroom.  I challenge you to be bored while I’m making such a fantastic fool of myself!

Admittedly, some of the teachers in our schools are just bad.  There’s only so long worksheets and movies can keep a student motivated.  But, there are also great teachers who can make subjects like physics and economics come alive.  Many students still get bored, however, because they can’t immediately see how these subjects are relevant to their grand life plans.  I didn’t get how Calculus fit into my aspirations, but I still found it fascinating (didn’t help me from getting any better than a “D” in the course my senior year, but my senior year choices weren’t too kind to my GPA).  I don’t remember ever being bored in class … it was too challenging.

I’m not sure how I feel about the “my teacher doesn’t care about me” part.  I cared for my students and wanted them to get excited about American Government (I met with mixed results here), but what is the students’ definition about caring?  Is it that the teacher isn’t sympathetic if a homework assignment isn’t done because a girl is torn up about a recent breakup?  Or that the teacher just “doesn’t get” an adolescent’s need to wear baggy jeans that share underwear preferences?  Is it possible the student is frustrated that the teacher took away her cell phone and she subsequently got grounded?   Teachers certainly must care about their students, but teenagers also have a flair for the dramatic.

The story ends this way:

Yet, three of four students surveyed said they expected to earn a high school diploma and go on to college.

“Students may not be doing the work to get them to that point,” Yazzie-Mintz said.

You think?

We have students who aren’t learning (through their fault or the fault of the teacher) and who are apathetic towards their education but, by all means, they certainly should sign up for another four years (or more) in the classroom.  And the value of a college degree drops yet another notch.

Maryland takes on #14 Duke in one hour at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Maryland is playing great ball right now (finally) and I believe we have earned a place in the Big Dance with some key wins. Admittedly, Duke is uncharacteristically not a greatly feared team this year. However, there is nothing sweeter than beating Duke in their house. We already beat them at Comcast, so let’s go for the season sweep!

GO TERPS!

From Colorado:

Three people were arrested on charges of swapping a 5-month-old boy for a down payment on a used Dodge Intrepid and cash, police said Tuesday.

Nicole Uribe, 23, is accused of trading the baby to Jose-Juan Lerma, 47, and his wife, Irene, 27, in exchange for $1,500, $500 which was to be the down payment, Pueblo police Sgt. Brett Wilson said.

Lovely.  But, I guess this type of transaction might be OK with some.  (Please notice I use the word “might”, because I wouldn’t want to make absolute assertions and end up being incorrect, as others have done.)  After all, children are just our property and we should be able to do with them whatever we think is best without silly laws or social standards getting in the way.  I mean, who are we to judge that a couple who is willing to lay down $1500 of hard-earned money would not be excellent caregivers?  Right?

Why does a woman who is willing to trade her baby for a car even have the kid in the first place?  Was she looking for a possible bargaining chip at the local CarMax all along?  How does that thought process go?

“Dang, I’m really tired of taking the bus every day.  I know!  I’m going to get somebody to knock me up and then, in fourteen months … I mean, I wouldn’t want to sell a newborn.  That’s just wrong … I’ll offer up the baby in return for my very own ride.  That’s a sweet plan, for sure!”

Satan has prepared a special spot for you, Mr. and Mrs. Carroll.  He picked out the throw pillows himself.  Sure, they are a little warm to the touch, but you’ll come to expect such things in the lowest ring of Hell.  That distinct charring smell?  Oh, that’s just your soul being burned for eternity.  Your nose kind of deadens to it after a while, but the searing pain is here to stay.
David Carroll Jr. was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, with an additional year in prison for his guilty plea to gross abuse of a corpse.

He and his wife, Liz, were charged with causing Marcus Fiesel’s death by leaving the developmentally disabled boy wrapped up with a blanket and packing tape in a closet for two days while they went to a weekend family reunion in Kentucky in August.

Prosecutors say the couple found the boy dead when they returned home from the reunion. The Carrolls then claimed the child had disappeared from a park in suburban Cincinnati, sparking a search by thousands of volunteers.

Little did these volunteers know that the Carrolls had already burned the boy’s body.

What shining examples of foster parents these two are!  Why did these people decide to offer their home to a young child in need?  And, what kind of fantastic, thorough screening process did these monsters manage to pass?

To your right, my lovely wife has started a row over whether or not encouraging a 200 pound eight year old to eat Ho-Ho’s constitutes parental abuse. The local reaction is somewhat amusing. Thyroid problems aside, eight year olds ought not be sized to start as linebacker in the SEC. Someone should look into that.

The real point of my post, prior to witnessing the silly defense of filling one’s child’s arteries with super sized portions of LDL, was to discuss the newly emerging neverending hypocrisy of the iconist left. As anyone who lives within earshot of talk radio, The Tennessean, Hannity & Colmes, or even Coast to Coast AM, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has dropped a Superfund sized bomb on Al Gore’s commitment to environmental justice.

A day after a film about his efforts to combat global warming won an Oscar, former Vice President Al Gore was called a hypocrite by a Tennessee group that said his Belle Meade home is consuming too much energy.

The home’s average monthly electric bill last year was just under $1,200, according to bills that The Tennessean acquired from Nashville Electric Service.

“As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk (the) walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use,” said Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, identified as a free-market think tank.

Yeah, but the Academy bought it. Now that I’m started, we can add to this compost pile Robert Kennedy, Jr., well known self-righteous crusader for environmental causes, who, like Nancy Pelosi, feels he ought to only travel via private jet, courteously dumping extra tonnages of green house gases into the upper atmosphere a handful of times a week. Mr. Kennedy’s robustly anti-green lifestyle makes Al Gore’s Nashville electric bill look tame (no word as of yet on power usage at the Arlington, Virginia residence).

While we’re on the topic of leftist hypocrisy, one cannot overlook (and how could you, really) Michael Moore, who for all his anti-corporatist, anti-Bush, capitalist hating rantings, felt the need to own 2,000 shares of Halliburton stock. And Rosie O’Donnell, blow hard of blow hards, and the penultimate crusader against all gun ownership, who self righteously arms her bodyguards for her children’s protection (as if my daughter is less worthy of protecting). Click through on that last link and check out some other good stuff, to include the twistedness of Noam Chomsky, Barbra Streisand’s absurd use of an RV for fear of public restrooms, and anti-business raver Ralph Nader’s mutual funds.

But hey - right now is Al Gore’s moment. Let’s let him bask in the glorious guilt he bought with those carbon offsets. As Drew Johnson of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research just noted on H&C, it’s called paying off your liberal guilt.

Kat Coble takes offense at my previous post asserting that child obesity is a form of abuse. Fair enough … disagree all you want. But, don’t write falsehoods about my statements in the process.

Ms. Coble writes the following on her blog:

Sarah Moore writes this morning in praise of the British government’s attempts to take custody of a fat 8 year-old from his parents.

She must be reading between some lines that don’t exist on my post. Where is this supposed praise? My focus is on frustration with the parents, not the actions of the government. Sometimes children do need to be taken out of dangerous home situations, but that was not the argument I made in my post. I dole out my praise very carefully … don’t assign such an action to me when it doesn’t exist.

Bottom line is that attitudes like Sarah Moore’s–of seeing fat parents with their fat kids in McDonalds and being disgusted–bug the krep out of me in a big way. It’s prejudice cloaked in moral superiority.

I did not write that I was disgusted, and I would never use such a word to describe the situation. I wrote that it makes me sad, and that’s the truth. Do not change my emotions for me. Being sad and being disgusted are two very different things.
It’s not an issue of prejudice. It’s concern for the welfare of a child. I am libertarian as far as adults are concerned. If you are over eighteen, do whatever you want to your body as long as you don’t harm others in the process. But, children shouldn’t have to deal with the poor decisions made by their parents. That’s why I favor seatbelt laws for children only … they aren’t old enough to make that decision. Same thing goes for food. and physical fitness.

I’m sorry that Ms. Coble gets so upset that I have concern for the health of a child.

UPDATE: Now Aunt B over at “Tiny Cat Pants” gets in on misinterpreting what I write.  She offers the following:

Sarah Moore acts like a dink.  Coble calls her on it.  And Sarah Moore makes it worse.

Keep an eye out for the meat of Moore’s argument, which seems to be “Fat people don’t make me feel disgusted; they make me feel sad.  See, that’s totally different.  I’m not hostile; I’m patronizing.  And it’s okay to be patronizing; it shows you care.”

Wrong.  I could care less if an adult is overweight.  An adult who has some extra poundage evokes no feelings of sadness in me whatsoever.  In some cases this weight is a choice, in others it’s not.  Not my concern either way.  I am specifically referring to children who have no choice in their diet and are being fed crap on a regular basis.  That is not patronizing — I just can’t imagine not feeling concern for every kid on this planet.
Perhaps if I had used the word “f***” in its various forms throughout my post, Aunt B would be more likely to understand what I wrote and wouldn’t jump to wrong conclusions.

From across the pond:

Authorities are considering taking an 8-year-old boy who weighs 218 pounds into protective custody unless his mother improves his diet, officials said Monday.

An unidentified health official was quoted as telling The Sunday Times that taking custody of Connor would be a last resort, but said the family had repeatedly failed to attend appointments with nurses, nutritionists and social workers.

“Child abuse is not just about hitting your children or sexually abusing them, it is also about neglect,” the official was quoted as saying.

I agree. A parent who takes no steps to reverse her child’s life-threatening obesity is guilty of abuse. A kid does not know what foods are healthy and should not be allowed to make the decisions about what goes into his body. I get so sad when I see an obese kid taking in a Happy Meal at McDonalds with parents who are also usually overweight. Aren’t we supposed to live as an example to our kids? Aren’t we given the responsibility of teaching our children the behaviors that will allow them to live the best life possible?

Setting your children up for a life of diabetes, heart disease and ridicule is absolutely abusive. Parental rights should not trump a child’s long-term health.

As Brittney posted on NiT, and I also heard on Glenn Beck, a USA Today/Gallup Poll was released addressing the following question:

“If your party nominated a generally well-qualified person for president who happened one the following, would you vote for that person?”

I thought the results were encouraging as they showed the voters of this country are largely willing to consider candidates of varied backgrounds. Here are the categories that were mentioned. The percentage of positive response is in parentheses, followed by my own thoughts.

Catholic (95%) — Sure! Get that extra line installed for communication with Pope Benedict.

Black (94%) — Absolutely! I firmly believe that this country will elect a black Republican before we elect a black Democrat. That’s right. You heard me, Obama.

Jewish (92%) — You bet! Wouldn’t a Jewish president be just a little kick in the eye to the terrorists?

A woman (88%) — Yes, as long as she is as a tough as nails, Margaret Thatcher type. I don’t like the idea of electing a woman in order to bring more emotion and softness to the White House.

Hispanic (87%) — No problem here! I’m tired of the “they’re invading our country” conversations, so I have no witty comments here.

Mormon (72%) — Sounds fine to me. Just get a couple of rooms ready for the extra First Wives. (Kidding, kidding)

Married 3 times (67%) — I’m a bit wary of this one, but I would be a hypocrite to rule it out considering I’ve already preordered a shrimp tray for my Rudy Guiliani inaugural bash. As I’ve mentioned before, there are plenty of great public leaders who have led despicable private lives.

72 years old (57%) — Not so sure here either. The candidate would have to prove that he has the physical endurance and mental acuity for the job. We’ll start with a driver’s test. If he leaves the blinker on for more than half a mile, he loses my support.

Homosexual (55%) — Faaa-bu-lous! Are any of the Log Cabins interested? The White House would never have looked so good.

Atheist (45%) — It’s OK with me. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are Christians. That doesn’t equate them to advocating policies with which I agree. As long as the candidate believes in the right of religious expression and my freedom to worship, then he can be my president and deal with the consequences of his own personal decisions.

I didn’t watch most of the Academy Awards last night.  I just allowed myself an occasional click of the remote to check out the show while the Law and Order: SVU marathon was on commercial.  One reason I didn’t tune into the “biggest night in Hollywood” is that I haven’t seen any of the movies.  I really just don’t care for movies that much.  Most of the time, as the end credits are rolling, I think, “Well, there’s two hours of my life that I’ll never get back.”  The last movie I saw in a theater was Walk the Line.  The other primary reason for my avoidance of Mr. Oscar is the ridiculous seriousness with which these people take themselves.  They congratulate each other with standing ovations and tearful eyes with statements like, “This movie really made a difference” and “His work was so powerful that it shook the landscape of filmmaking as we know it.”  Really?  Come now.  I know that it takes talent to create all aspects of a good movie and I’m glad that people with a passion for the craft are able to create something that fulfills them.  But, we are talking about entertainment here.  Let’s not make it more than it is.

I did read enough about the awards to know that it was an Al Gore love fest.  Maybe his documentary was the best of the five nominees.  But, way to make the other four filmmakers feel completely irrelevant!  Sorry Jesus Camp and Iraq in Fragments (I looked those up) … you never had a shot.  But, here’s a great goodie bag filled with perfume, a trip to a spa, your very own hybrid car and so much more!

And, is there any doubt that Melissa Etheridge’s song won only because it was associated with Al Gore’s movie?  I don’t see how it’s an outstanding song … the lyrics are predictable and uninspired.  But, this award was also given to a “song” titled “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp”.  So, the bar was not set particularly high.

So much for reparations in Davidson County.

I am going to take a stab at good government. My first inclination is that it will not go over well with many of my fellow Republicans.

Tennessee State Senator Bill Ketron has proposed a bill in the legislature that would require all Tennessee driving tests be conducted in English only. I will offer why I think that is not a good idea.

While it is true that our road signs are in English, it is also true that we have different shapes and colors for various signs that mean various things - no signs look alike, and reading numbers on speed limit signs isn’t a language specific exercise. If I recall correctly, a portion of the driving test actually just shows shapes and colors, and you must answer what those shapes and colors actually mean. In short, we as a society have created a rather well-functioning system of traffic rules where literacy is irrelevant, whether you speak Spanish better than English or just can’t read a lick. If all the traffic signs looked the same, and we had to actually read them to know what was coming up next, I would wager to say that I’d be working from home more often than not. Then, of course, Ketron would have a good argument.

The real purpose for driving tests is public safety, not as a beachhead for lingual primacy. One does not need to know English to know who has the right-of-way at a four-way stop, but I’d rather the immigrant who is dicey on the language know that he needs to wait his turn before I get t-boned. Declaring the rules of the road to be English specific is bad public policy.

That being said, I’ll offer a quick anecdote (which I hate to do, because stand alone anecdotes are usually bad reasons to hold opinions - I think I am covered by my other reasons as noted above, though). I have only driven in one place that was not an English language city - Montreal. I was able to drive well there because the traffic rules were similar to our own, though I couldn’t read much of anything while driving down the road. I knew the rules in a different language, but I was able to drive with minimal incident, or I guess,  no more tribulation than I experience (or cause) on my daily commute in Nashville.

Our focus on driving tests should be safety, not English, first. I like Senator Ketron’s stands a lot on many other issues, but this bill does not make us safer, and quite frankly, just doesn’t make much sense.

UPDATE I walked out of the office to get some lunch, and had a couple more relevant thoughts.

At present, I am not aware that Tennessee offers driving tests in any language but English.  The 2005 handbook, available online, appears to come in only one language.  However, the world may be ending because the Department of Safety page is also available en Espanol. Naturally, I cannot read it. I just hope they’re not saying anything bad about me.

Anyhow, the more I thought about it, the more unnecessary this bill sounds. There isn’t a good public policy reason to support it (I can’t read Spanish, but because I practice criminal defense I recognize what culpable means). You don’t need to be fluent in our language to know what the letters STOP mean.  If your concern is safety, you ought to want the test offered in as many languages as possible. With language converters available online everywhere nowadays, that’s not an unreasonable nor expensive prospect.

I also noted this unattributed tidbit at the beginning of the City Paper article

While Metro has seen its push to make English the official language, efforts are being renewed at the state level to put driver’s license tests only in English to protect the “sovereignty of our country.”

The “sovereignty” of our country? I’m not sure what that is supposed to mean. Maybe a reader more educated on the concept of national sovereignty than myself can offer a clear explanation in the comments.

Reuters posted an article about the out-of-control murder rate in New Orleans.  The city has already recorded 27 violent deaths this year.  I was a bit confused by the way the article ended:

A recent murder encapsulated the difficulties. After a 17-year-old was beaten up, his mother gave him a gun and told him to get revenge, and he killed the boy he fought with.

When police went to his home to investigate, they found the mother with cocaine and a family photo on display of the son with a gun in one hand and a fistful of cash in the other.

“For us to correct this, we have to look at the root of the problem. The root of the problem is our education system,” Police Superintendent Warren Riley said in an interview.

I don’t know.  I am reluctant to believe that poor schooling was the primary cause of this particular shooting.  I’ll list the following reasons ahead of an undoubtedly horrible school system:

1. The shooter’s mother is a druggie.

2. There is no mention of a father.

3. Guns and wads of cash are seen as accessories that bring tears of pride to a druggie mother’s eyes.

The root of the problem was a breakdown in the value of family and a sense of responsibilty.  That root took hold years before this revenge shooting ever took place.

The public school system is certainly broken, especially in urban areas that primarily serve minority students.  Having a school that provides a safe and challenging learning environment for its students will make a difference in turning the violent tide.  However, these changes will be essentially negated if mama pleads with you to pose for just one more picture holding your piece and money earned from illegal activity.

Nathan’s at work, Catherine is sleeping and I’ll now finish my thoughts on the lunch with Councilman Briley. I shall do it in list form because I love making lists!

On Briley:

1. He is a very attractive candidate in terms of approachability and communication skills. Unlike some others (particularly of his political persuasion, in my opinion), he seems to be a true believer and not just intrigued by the power.

2. I liked his formula for a good school — a good principal, dedicated teachers and involved parents. I voiced a concern about parents who aren’t involved and therefore won’t know about school choice opportunities. He mentioned that principals who are willing to get out in the community and advocate for their schools are tremendous assets in helping get parents on board.

3. Briley did a good job explaining his lack of a vote on the third reading of the English-first bill. And, he mentioned that he would have voted “no” if he had been in the room and vetoed the bill if he had been mayor. I agree with his assertion that the bill sends the wrong symbolic message since it holds no legal weight.

4. I’m not ready to slap a Briley for Mayor bumper sticker on my car. He’s certainly very polished and some of his talking points give the indication that he doesn’t always see government as the solution. However, the “progressive liberal” label is not one that endears me. That being said, I’m not particularly excited by anyone who is running for mayor.

5. I wanted to ask him to what extent the Metro government should step in to save the Predators if that becomes necessary. But, I didn’t want to take time away from the great discussion that was happening on topics like immigration, neighborhoods and education. Maybe next time.

Other stuff:
1. It’s wonderful yet odd to meet other bloggers whose work I read every day. Taking the bloggers out of cyberspace and into flesh and blood format is a bit surreal. Everyone was very nice. I look forward to future opportunities to socialize. Chatting about current events and hearing other perspectives reenergizes my desire to write even more. I’ll get Nathan to babysit!

2. I’m wary of family dynasties in politics (Fords of Memphis, Brileys of Nashville, Gores of Carthage … kind of, Bushes of Kennebunkport, those pesky Harrison boys from Virginia and Ohio). I feel there’s a tendency for insularity from the world outside of the political process and a sense of entitlement.

3. I looked around to see what everyone else was eating for lunch. Like going through someone’s mail (which I don’t have a habit of doing, for the record), you can learn a lot about a person by her choice of food. Salads were popular among the women. The men were more varied in their fare. I opted for a chicken panini sandwich, and noticed that John H. made the same selection. With Hands Across America, Beverly Hills 90210 and favored sandwiches in common, bipartisanship can be reached in the blogosphere. Our national leaders should take note.

Friends have referred to my memory as a steel trap. I can remember what I was wearing the day my first boyfriend asked me out on our first date after German class. I remember the name of every teacher I ever had. I still know the birthdays of all five members of the New Kids on the Block.

That being said, I can think of a personal association with almost any song that comes on the radio. I’m not one of these people who knows the local bands and can share with the world how awesome some obscure rock record is. I tend to think that most rock music that is supposedly “deep” is just a bunch of noise. But, let me have at the fluffy Top 40 pop stuff that is sung by people who I readily admit have little to no talent and I’ll make a connection. (Well, at least with songs until about the year 2000 … I don’t recognize any of the singers on MTV these days.)

A few reflections:

“Candy Girl” by New Edition — I was in second grade. We were all allowed to bring in a song of our choice one Friday in Mrs. Banks’ music class. Velma Watkins brought in this 45 and the cool kids started dancing (make no mistake … there are cool kids at age seven). She was the first girl I knew whose parents let her buy pop music. The only musical selection I ever made at that point in my life was the cassette of the Annie soundtrack. As it turns out, the first pop record I ended up buying was by New Edition. I still know all the words — “Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky and Mike - If I like a girl, who cares who you like?”

“Catch Me (I’m Falling)” by Pretty Poison — This song was played at EVERY middle school dance. I’d rather not remember any more.

“One Two Three” by Gloria Estefan — This song was on heavy rotation on my Walkman during a family camping trip in Thurmont, MD (near the presidential getaway of Camp David). I practiced singing the numbers in Spanish.

“Must’ve Been Love” by Roxette — Oh, young love. How often did I play this song after breaking up with my 9th grade boyfriend? I’m getting veklempt just thinking about it! Luckily, “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips came out around the same time and I used that song for strength. Thank you, Carnie Wilson. Thank you.

“Rumpshaker” by Wreckz-n-Effect — The favorite song of my senior prom date. I think of that horrible fuschia dress with shoes dyed to match every time I hear that sultry saxophone intro.

I have countless other examples, but that’s just a sampling. Do other people have such a constant soundtrack to take them through their memories?

I was invited by Sean Braisted to attend a lunch with Councilman (and mayoral candidate) David Briley today. I want to thank Sean for thinking of me. It was great to get out and discuss politics with a group of adults, which is a rare treat these days. I’ll write a bit now while Catherine enjoys a snack of graham crackers and peaches, and hit more details later tonight.

First, I want to thank my fellow bloggers for kindly tolerating my daughter. Almost everyone in my circle of mom friends who could normally babysit either has a sick kid or is out of town (and Catherine’s nose is a bit of a runny faucet as well), so Catherine came along for the meeting. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to hear from Briley, so I strapped Catherine in her car seat and hoped for the best. She had never been in a restaurant with cloth tablecloths before! Thanks in particular to Ned Williams for walking around the room with her and giving me a chance to eat!

Councilman Briley spent a good portion of the lunch discussing education, which makes sense as schools are the primary responsibility of local government. He appears to be a strong advocate for school choice, specifically mentioning the option for parents to choose single-sex schools or schools with uniforms. When asked about the role of the teachers’ union, he said that his occasional disagreements with the political function of the MNEA (such as over incentive pay) was no reflection on his respect and admiration for teachers. I was pleasantly surprised by his strong support for providing parents with options and enjoyed the fact that he didn’t automatically give a warm and fuzzy embrace to the MNEA (not that he doesn’t support the union, but it doesn’t seem like he will be beholden to its leaders if it’s not in the best interest of our kids). I would love to see a mayoral candidate promise to actively work to end the MNEA … oh what grand dreams I have.

I have more to write on today’s lunch, including the nice conversations I had with the other bloggers who were present (thanks for the compliments, John … you are too kind!) and the rest of my thoughts on Briley’s plans, but I’ll have to do that once Catherine is asleep and not when she’s screaming for release from her high chair.

Our executive branch here in Tennessee seems to believe they are within their rights to deny private citizen requests for public information. Those readers who live in Nashville may have noticed the story in The Tennessean this past week where the Department of Revenue chose to ignore public information requests from the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, Tennessee’s only homegrown conservative think tank, regarding the administration of the “crack tax”, our government’s brilliant idea to tax illegal drug sales. The arrogance is mind boggling. It may be worth reminding Governer Bredesen and his cabinet that the government has no rights, but reserved powers. And those powers do not extend to keeping the people in the dark for purposes of political expediency.

The Nashville City Paper takes the Department of Revenue to task in a great editorial today

Still fairly new Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr stood behind the revenue staff, saying TCPR did not pursue the information they requested through the correct channels. The TCPR disputes this, noting they originally called the department’s public information officer for information – the person Farr said should have been contacted.

A direct quote from the department’s public information officer’s e-mail to other revenue staffers: “The Tennessee Center for Policy Research has called several people in the department, including me, re: unauthorized substances tax. As you know, this is Drew Johnson’s group. We are not responding to the calls.”

The key words here are, “including me.” Clearly, the protocol under which the TCPR was denied the information as stated by Farr was actually followed.

The Commission is clearly in stop, drop and roll mode, albeit with a rather amateurish twist that assumes the rest of us are stupid. The City Paper continues

Since when do residents of Tennessee or any other citizen of this country have to resort to “snooping around” Tennessee state government to get information? Apparently, it would better serve the curious to do so when dealing with the Byzantine logic at the Department of Revenue.

It is true; the TCPR is not a group without an agenda. They are interested in low taxes, smaller government and government accountability. Ironically, that sounds a great deal like many of the values Gov. Phil Bredesen has campaigned on successfully during both of his re-election bids.

Quite frankly, it should not really matter how far off the mainstream any group is when dealing with state government. Whether it is a blogger in their pajamas, a special interest group or just Joe Citizen, state government should crack open like a piñata when asked for otherwise public information.

True. In fairness, the state government has in the past been responsive and fair with my and other’s requests. Too bad the Department of Revenue, essentially the bean counting mechanism of our state, has made a mockery of open government over this.

Harry Reid, already well established as an embarrassment to his party and the United States Senate, continues on an ill-advised path

WASHINGTON (CNN) — After months of heated rhetoric slamming President Bush’s Iraq policy, the Senate’s top Democrat moved into new terrain by declaring the Iraq war a worse blunder than Vietnam.

“This war is a serious situation. It involves the worst foreign policy mistake in the history of this country,” Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, told CNN’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.”

“So we should take everything seriously. We find ourselves in a very deep hole and we need to find a way to dig out of it.”

Asked whether he considers it a worse blunder than Vietnam, Reid responded, “Yes.”

Comparisons to Vietnam are nothing new, but a “worse than” designation from a top lawmaker is.

Worse than Vietnam? Vietnam was certainly bad, but only because we did not commit ourselves to win the war, which is precisely what the Democratic Party is attempting to accomplish (sic) domestically now in Iraq. Besides functioning as a demoralization to the troops in the field, which Democrats so laughingly claim to support, Reid’s blurb does do us the advantage of encapsulating the Democratic Party and White Flag Republicans’ views on Iraq in one refreshingly candid yet inane sound bite.

That’s all fine and well. Senator Reid has long been classless (see his voice mail to Betty Ford and subsequent junket to South America), but his senatorial silliness hasn’t quite been on as great display. If you look up statesman in the dictionary, Harry Reid would show up under the last entry, antonym.

Now, besides the obvious dissimilarities between Vietnam and Iraq that any marginally educated adult ought to be able to see, we are now saddled with the labor of observing more tripe stemming from the politics of hopelessness. One needs only look to the casualty count difference between Vietnam and Iraq to make Reid’s commentary absurd on its face (the difference is presently over 54,000). We Republicans have so frequently been labeled the party of fear (again, as if 3,000 Americans did not die in a multi-pronged terrorist attack a mere 5 years ago), that it is now time to return the favor.

Though in returning the favor, the obvious difference is that the facts are on our side. Iraq is not like Vietnam. The troop surge proposed by the president is done in an effort to win the war. One may not agree with the strategy, and that is a fair position to take, but I would like to hear from any Democrat what Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi have proposed in their short, albeit much-hyped tenure, that would result in anything other than American defeat. Now that the Democrats control both houses of congress, I now havea decent inkling what the “U.S.” stands for preceding the US House and Senate - Unconditional Surrender (my utmost apologies extended to General Grant).

Even more amusingly, Senator Reid’s statement comes on the heels of the Democrat sponsored surrender resolution passed by the House of Representatives the end of last week. The Democrats, so empowered by their convictions, choose to present a nonbinding muddling of meaninglessness to express their alleged discontent with the president’s current Iraqi policy. Further exposing their cowardice, the House controls the purse - if Iraq is so great a mistake, and the nation’s good is so imperiled by our continued involvement there, as good Americans the Democratic leadership must shut down funding for the war, and “redeploy” our forces stateside. As the Democrats seem content to dabble in everything nonbinding, it has become clear that they either are not truly discontented, in that we can be assured they are merely whiny, or else they truly lack the moral fortitude to enact the policies they so ardently advocate.

Pick your poison. No matter the answer, the Democratic Party and its Republican sycophants have shown their uninterest in governing responsibly. Let us be warned, and know that in 2008, immediate change is needed. No more Democrats, and no more Bush.

I had to share my discovery in the “Comments” section of a Tennessean article. The piece was about the recall of Peter Pan peanut butter due to salmonella. “MominTN” had this great insight (and I don’t think she was kidding):

It’s because Georgia is full of illegal immigrants and that’s who the company is obviously using. Why do you think you get sick when you go to Mexico?

After several readers responded and let “MominTN” know how ridiculous she is, our valiant expert on the ties between illegal border crossings and tainted peanut butter shared this:

You are all a bunch of idiots. Do you think employers who hire illegal immigrants are going to check if the food has bacteria in it or not? Or that everyone washes their hands after going to the bathroom? Or that sick people stay at home until they are well? Corporations are just like people; One crime leads to another. As long as they make more money, they don’t give a crap.

So, those dirty illegals come to our country with diseases on their fingertips and then dip those fingers into the evil vat of corporate peanut butter. They got us again. Curses.

Personally, I think that companies who hire illegal immigrants will do their best to avoid having dangerous levels of bacteria in their food … why would they want to draw attention to themselves?

I also don’t think there is a correlation between entering the country illegally and failing to wash your hands after going to the bathroom. But, hey, if you want to insist that the “Employees — please remember to wash your hands” signs are in English only, then you’re just asking for the problem to continue.

Feminists in Arkansas are still pushing the Equal Rights Amendment

The Arkansas House resolution appeared headed to an easy victory in that chamber until organizations such as the National Right to Life Committee, Arkansas Right to Life and Eagle Forum began explaining to legislators the reasons for their opposition. As a result, 20 of the 66 co-sponsors of the measure removed their support.

“Many ERA supporters were not candid with the legislators, and that came back to bite them,” NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson said in a written statement. “Some lawmakers changed their minds once they learned how [state] ERAs have been used to require tax funding of abortion in New Mexico and Connecticut.”

Since ERA-type laws prohibit discrimination based on “sex,” organizations such as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the ACLU have argued in courts abortion should be treated the same as other “medical procedures,” according to the NRLC. Abortion-rights advocates have urged the striking down of restrictions on government funds for abortion, as well as parental involvement laws, the NRLC reported.

Twenty-five years since the ERA last died, Roe v. Wade remains the law of the land, yet efforts like this persist. Like Miss Haversham in Great Expectations, today’s ERA advocates have failed to realize their time has passed. I may be speculating, but I think I smell the rather distinct scent of fear and paranoia wafting from the feminist corner. To them, the 14th Amendment guarantees of equal protection and due process, both of which have become effective tools in their societal quiver, are not enough. The failure to honor precedent, inauspiciously authored by Justice Harry Blackmun, which established a beachhead used to this day, was also not enough. The courts as a rule have been more than hospitable, using astrological terms to create rights from whole cloth, and that’s not enough. Now they hide their true intentions in order to (wrongly) attempt to get the three states needed to obtain national ratification (also, wrongly). I must say, I’ve had enough.