Talented scribes must be hard to come by. On alternating days, The Tennessean runs a guy whose most stellar journalistic achievement is setting the record for number of quote lines per column inch (that would be Dwight Lewis - it’s funny until you realize he gets paid for original thought), a former-contributor-now-columnist who most recently contrived that American politics are as corrupt as Indian politics (laughable on its face) and Iraqis are apparently suffering more now than under Saddam Hussein, and finally we have Larry Daughtrey, who penned this brilliant gemlet (not gimlet, gemlet) this past Sunday

Some of them editorial writers, good-government types and purist-but-clueless Republicans are all in a dither about the latest budgetary strategies in our General Assembly.

The legislature is getting ready to spend, oh, about $28 billion and, in the process, raise taxes while running the biggest surplus in history. Nobody except the same purist-but-clueless Republicans will squawk about that.

Eh, what does that even mean?

Having blessed the Tennessee public with that rather cryptic introduction, Daughtrey plows on, hooked on metaphors like Mama Cass to ham sandwiches (see…it’s okay to try a simile every now and again), proceeding to tell us why government waste is a good thing. Why? Well, it shows times are good!

In the old days, when governors dictated legislative votes, the executive branch controlled who got the pork as a method of discipline. Later, Naifeh did the same thing, like Santa winnowing out the good from the bad. At least this year, it looks like a democratic process: Whoever wants some gets some.

Spoilsports will claim that the money really is an incumbent re-election fund. That’s OK with me. I’d rather pay for it than the lobbyists. It may take a while, but if they are taking public money rather than special-interest money, they may remember who they work for.

Whoever wants some gets some…sounds like a perfect recipe for a brood of spoiled legislative brats. As well, I assume Daughtrey meant to say “Democratic” instead of “democratic” (perhaps we can pin that one on the editor).

Having spent an entire column mixing metaphors and calling Republicans clueless, it seems rather ironic that our senior columnist would conclude that legislative pork will eventually supplant lobbyist influence. According to Larry, there’s no better way to decrease the power of lobbyists than to give government more money to spend. Sheesh.

Puzzling as well is the contention that an incumbent protection racket is at any level a good thing. It takes a lot of ham sandwiches to conclude that invulnerable incumbents will result in better government. Mr. Daughtrey would do well to audit a rudimentary civics class or two before sitting down to write his next due piece.

Inside accounts had largely confirmed it, and honestly, no one anywhere seemed much in doubt, but now that Fred Thompson has taken formal steps to enter the race, the GOP field is right to be worried.

The Times has a good above-the-fold article on the front page today about the entrance of Fred into the Republican primary. Though everyone (including even the ridiculous Ron Paul, the Dennis Kucinich of my party) attempted to channel the 40th president during the debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, no one could quite assume the ghost. Fred can.

“Thompson is a credible conservative, he has a strong voting record, he has strong, almost Reagan-esque communication skills,” said Scott Reed, who managed the presidential campaign of the Republican Bob Dole in 1996 and is unaffiliated with any campaigns. “And like Reagan, he believes in an ideological agenda in an undiluted way. He doesn’t have a bunch of qualifiers on things when he defends the Reagan years.”

Fred Thompson is better in two distinct ways than everyone else in the Republican race. He is first a bona fide conservative candidate, and second, he is a most effective communicator. Predictably, the critics of Thompson ’s acting career are already sounding off - I take great comfort that such verbal darts bounced harmlessly off our last actor-turned-candidate. Besides, those who would cast stones on that basis are woefully ignorant of the heady career path Thompson was on prior to his acting and Senate careers, that he was instrumental in taking down both a corrupt American president and a pardon-auctioning Tennessee governor. In short, not only should the Republicans debating in New Hampshire this week be scared, but those wet dish rag Democrats oughtn’t be too thrilled, either. Just ask Jim Cooper whether he’d rather debate Fred Thompson or Mitt Romney.

UPDATE If you haven’t already, be sure to check out this piece by Frank Cagle in the Knoxville Metro Pulse on Fred.

The Tennessean runs a story today on Gore’s message, which follows on what I thought was a perceptive opinion piece by David Brooks in The New York Times a couple days prior (well, not everyone thought it perceptive).

Al Gore’s newest (s)creed comes in the form of a lament. Moving on from the gospel of environmental disaster, which causes the otherwise anti-religious among us to throw their hands to the heavens and shake with the spirit of Gaea, we are implored to now look to the American political tragedy

“There is a crack in the foundation of our democracy,” the former Tennessee senator said.

That crack, he said, is caused by the replacement of reasoned dialogue with manipulative appeals to emotion.

We have nothing to fear but Al Gore himself - and the Democrats say that Republicans peddle the emotion. Having read a number of excerpts from the book, I cannot help but flashback to college, where reading the tedious writing of overeducated academics was a daily requirement. Having moved beyond that phase of life, I see no reason to be so masochistic - especially since we’re talking only about a self proclaimed academic, who so gloriously flunked out of divinity school, couldn’t finish law school, and who (funny enough) received a “D” in natural sciences at Harvard with an overall “C” average.

But hey, he writes nearly as awkwardly as Bush speaks, and a Gore presidency would have required us all to wear solar panels on our backs by now, so I’m happy with the trade off.

Gore’s complaint seems to stem from the emotional “manipulation” of the public by the Bush administration over the Iraq war and the public’s reliance on broadcast media (as Brooks notes, doesn’t the Internet solve a lot of the problems Gore bemoans?). The former vice president’s inescapable conclusion is that no one rational could believe what conservatives believe. Because, as we now all know, the 9/11 attacks never actually happened, Saddam Hussein wasn’t responsible for a million deaths, and France and Russian didn’t maintain the same threat assessment the United States did. If only we would just skip away from the Middle East with a smile on our face. Without our interference the region would devolve back into the great and peaceful landscape it has always been. Perhaps even women will get the chance to vote by the next millennium. Or, if we’re lucky, men will, too.

Contrary to Gore’s assertion, the American public isn’t stupid. There’s a difference between dumb and busy. Yes, people get their information faster now - because they can, and because life has become more and more complex with each generation. Read Gore’s book in its entirety if you must - I’m going to stage a protest and watch some TV.

There are not enough words to honor someone who says, “I do not know you, but I am willing to die for you.  When my nation called, I answered.  I am willing to sacrifice my life for the freedoms and principles this country holds so dear.”

These men and women take my breath away.  I am in awe of every one of you.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

By now everyone has probably heard about the monster pig felled by 11 year old Jamison Stone. I personally think the whole thing is awesome, and the pictures are impressive. Apparently, the PETA / “guns are icky” crowd thinks a bit differently. If you go to the website set up to honor the pig kill, monsterpig.com, Stone’s father shows he has a pretty good sense of humor. Here’s a sampling of some of the negative comments sent to 11 year old Jamison Stone

FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?? YOU LITTLE FAT ASS PUNK!!! THINK YOUR SO COOL CUZ YOU SHOT A HUGE PIG! JUST BECAUSE IT WAS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER PIGS DOESNT MEAN THAT IT DOESNT HAVE A LIFE, A MATE, A FAMILY!!!! HOW WOULD U LIKE IT IF U WERE KILLED FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN UR FAT!?! I WOULD SURE BE HAPPY!

To CAP or not to CAP, that is the question. Here’s another

You’ve got  a great career as a killer ahead of you!   I hope that one day soon, you’ll decide to kill your father & then youself.

Nigel Clements San Francisco, CA

Fuck the bible and fuck the fat red neck killer kid and all you red neck hillbillies good for nothing dumb ass scums.

That must have been a tolerant liberal, and finally

I have to congratulate you because I didn’t think it was possible for an 11 yr old as large as yourself to chase a pig for three hours in hilly terrain. Well done, fat boy! For real though. Killing an animal about half your size does not make you a hero, or a model american, or anything else anybody might say you are. It certainly does not make you worthy of being in a movie.

You are a worthless piece of crap and i hope one day another noble american hunter such as yourself mistakes you for a large hog and shoots you about 12 times before your fat ass drops dead. They’ll definately need another backhoe in the woods to pick your body up with. I hope you’re enjoying your fame. Satan is going to have fun with you when you rot in hell.

God Bless.

There’s more if you’ve got the time. Check out the negs here.

Today we honor those who have fought for us, and who have achieved the noblest calling in the form of the ultimate sacrifice, forever forgoing their own rights to enjoy life and liberty, and who have accepted a halt to their personal pursuit of happiness.

Or else, I suppose, those who today choose to stand upon the outer ramparts of civilization and stare down the worst of theocratic autocrats, who would create a caliphate which not only seek to imprison individuals through physical control, but to destroy the human spirit at its very core, have found in their dedication a more fulfilling and immediate happiness. That is something enviable.

For me and all those I call close, the tribute of the heart and mind to the American soldier is a very real one. It is real in that takes into account certain truths outside the colorful metaphors. What a soldier exists to do, it must be remembered, in fact his very dedication to the cause that will always be the United States of America, rests in the truth that he is to defeat and destroy the enemy wherever he is found. If he is not allowed to do that, his very existence is at most a depressing philosophical contradiction. That’s not even the real problem - the real problem is that there are pols who believe he is unable to do it - the perverse among us can with a straight face call that “supporting the troops”.

The public debate today is unfortunate, and the stakes of the 2008 election grow in importance every day. Even on the Republican side, there exists a sad candidate whose world is most compatible with a time where the world was still separated by the speed of a steamer or a headwind impaired zeppelin, and who has blamed this country for provoking 9/11. On the Democrat side, things are worse. If there is a candidate running for the Democrat nomination who believes that the American military’s might exceeds that of Upper Volta, I don’t know who it is. The most hawkish of the Democrats, Hillary Clinton, finally collapsed in a mass of capitulation to the MoveOn.org base of her party by voting to defund the troops this past week. How utterly contemptible.

Next year’s election decides more than the party in power - it will determine whether last century will in fact be the last American century. Supporting the troops always means winning the war. There are too many people who believe more in the hippy-mindset induced failure in Vietnam than in the American military that won two world wars. To the observant, the greater and unavoidable conflict between civilization and barbarism now set in the Middle East has not even been fought yet. If America’s Left held even a smidgen of the contempt for Islamist jihadists that they do for American Christians, the terms of the Democrats’ candidates’ debate would worry me much less. Unfortunately, those who would wish our military out of Iraq have no answer as to what to do when the region in its entirety collapses into the black hole of Islamic fundamentalism upon our exit.

Peace without victory is a mirage. What to do with the war is win it, at all costs. Making that commitment is the best thing we as a People can do this Memorial Day for our troops. Support the troops - win the war.

Recently, several television shows (including The View and Dr. Phil) have featured the growing phenomenon of the Purity Ball. For those not familiar with the concept, girls and their daddies get dressed up in fancy ballroom garb. The girls promise to remain pure until marriage and the fathers vow to protect their daughters’ choices. The entire idea creeps me out.

“Here, Daddy. My virginity belongs to you until I succumb to my husband in our wedding bed.”

On his program a couple of weeks ago, Dr. Phil interviewed the father who started this evening of fanciness. His oldest daughter experienced her first kiss at the altar! And, now she has an amazing sex life with her husband (so glad that dad knows this information). The good doctor asked if daddy would be mad if one of his other daughters admitted to kissing a boy without a wedding band on her left hand. He responded, “No, but I would pull her closer to me and shield her from such temptations.” Ewww.

Nathan and I will teach abstinence to our children, so I certainly am not knocking the idea of purity.  Dads should share expectations with their daughters and I understand the need that girls have to feel approval from their fathers.  However, I just can’t get behind the idea of a girl “giving herself” to her father until the day that she “gives herself” to a husband. I’m left with a weird feeling about the entire affair.  I will never be a father, so maybe I just can’t get it.  Please tell me how I’m wrong.

I don’t know who these Rick and Bubba people are, but I do not appreciate the fact that they have replaced Kevin Wall on WLAC in the morning.  I thought that wacky DJ humor was reserved for morning shows on the FM side on the radio, with some slapstick squeezed between Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney.  I didn’t always agree with Kevin Wall, but I thought he was an informed host who did a good job with guests and listeners alike.  I enjoy quality coverage of local political issues, which is why I miss Mark Christopher … where I am going to get that now?  No, not from him.  Ummm … not him, either.

Even more upsetting than the dismissal of Kevin Wall is the replacement of Matt Drudge with a show called “Start Your Engines”.  Really?  Three hours of stimulating discussion focused on turning left at really high speeds.  Drudge’s sarcasm and great sound bites provided my sweet lullaby every Sunday night.  I cannot instead listen to tales about Junior’s problems following the rules of the track.

Now I have no reason to click on WLAC until 11:00am and I’ll shut it off at 2:00pm.  Even the scheduling wizards who are running WLAC won’t touch Rush Limbaugh.

A couple of weeks ago on this blog, I wrote that Councilman White cares only about the developers and couldn’t take the time to give a flip about his constituents.  The placement of his reelection signs on property that is set for development/rezoning says it all.  Since that post, I have received several emails and comments from others who are frustrated with Councilman White.  There is a blog with the aim of pointing out the lies being told about the proposed medical building.  And, Brittney over at NIT linked to a YouTube video which points out the inconsistencies in the statements made by Councilman White and his cohort in deception, Councilman Loring.

Perhaps White is trying to pocket as much cash as possible in the next couple of months because he realizes that his actions will cost him reelection.  I have to wonder why his campaign literature in 2003 didn’t list as a bullet point under Goals Of My Candidacy: scam the elderly and conversative voters into supporting me and then make as much profit as possible before my true intentions become obvious. 

White did not take long to make it clear that he would not be a councilman for all, as shown by this 2004 quote:

“Let me tell you something about those people over there,” referring to those who opposed his zoning changes. “Half of them didn’t vote, and of the other half, only five voted for me. Why should I do anything for them if they didn’t do anything for me?” 

Catherine and I go to the playground by Hermitage Library several times a week.  The construction and then the traffic brought on by this unnecessary project will ruin the feel of the area.  There are better alternatives for this space.  I do not believe the will of the community has been heard concerning this project.
I will admit that I’m not jazzed about voting for Bruce Stanley in August.  I wish we could get a new voice to represent our district.  However, Mr. Stanley will be the anti-White button that I push come election time.  At least Stanley has always struck me as a politician who listens to his constituents.  That will be a nice change.

A rather interesting, and considering some of the sources, also reliable, rumor has been making the rounds lately that Beth Harwell, the sole Republican in the Davidson County General Assembly delegation, will resign her house seat and run for governor in 2010.

And if this is indeed true, falling dominoes will abound. The line to fill Harwell’s seat once vacated is a long one. After a narrow loss to Jack Johnson in the 23rd District Senate primary, Chip Throckmorton is primed to run for the seat, as well as long time Republican election commissioner and 60th House resident Lynn Greer, just to name two (and not meaning to slight the rest of the field, there would be many, many more). More interesting though may be the effect the Harwell dynamic would have on Bill Frist’s interest in the governorship, as well as its effect on the never-ending rumors that Knoxville’s mayor Bill Haslam is intending to run in ‘10 as well.

It’s only 2007, and there’s so much to ponder.

Today’s Washingon Post featured a column that left me so irritated that I am still trying to unclench my fists that grabbed the paper and I’m certain I wore down the soles of my shoes with the pacing I did in my parents’ driveway.

Op-ed columnist Colbert I. King takes some time this Mother’s Day weekend to share the woes of a D.C. woman who is a victim of the affordable housing crisis in our nation’s capital.  Mr. King describes in great detail the apartment in which the woman lives with her six children (ages 16, 11, 8, 7, 3 and six months) and the difficulty she has supporting her offspring with only her welfare check and food stamps as income.

And, who helped to sire these children?  Where are the men (plural, of course) who were present for the sex?

The father of the 16-year-old and the 11-year-old is in jail. So is the father of the 7- and 8-year-olds. The 3-year-old’s father is an illegal immigrant from Africa, and the 6-month-old’s father, age 24, is out of the picture, C.C. said.

C.C. will be 38 next week.

She now proudly wears an engagement ring given to her by another 24-year-old man, “who is not the father of any of my children,” she bragged. He got a job last week, and he is good to her kids, reading to them and treating them like his own, she said.

Sounds like C.C. has made some fantastic decisions concerning her personal life!

I imagine that C.C. didn’t suddenly realize that she had financial issues in the last couple of months.  So, why has she continued to have children?  Instead of having sympathy for this mother who just isn’t getting enough financial assistance, why are we not instead criticizing her for being irresponsible (as long as she is in need of taxpayer money, I believe this grievance is legitimate)?  So often the anger is focused solely on the “fathers” who don’t stick around to take care of their children.  These sperm distributors certainly deserve blame.  But, why do the women so often get cast as the innocent victims?   

C.C. could have made the decision to stop having sex.  Having unprotected (I doubt the condom broke six times) intercourse should not be a right that must be protected at all costs regardless of consequences.  Neither should having as many children as you want regardless of your ability to support them.  Despite what some of these baby daddies may have been telling her, sex is not needed for survival (well, ultimate human survivial, but not specific person survival).

The children in this situation should receive the food, shelter and clothing they need.  They did not choose to be born to people who were not thoughtful enough to determine whether or not there was enough money to raise a child.  The government should be there to make sure the children are supported.  However, I will not agree with Mr. King’s assessment that this mother needs to be viewed as another hopeless statistic in a cruel system.  She chose to have sex.  She put herself in this situation … six times.  If she didn’t know initially how expensive and difficult it was to raise a child (I understand that many young women aren’t given the tools and information to make good family planning decisions), I can’t imagine the experience was still a shock by baby number three, four or five.

Catherine and I are in Maryland for the week visiting my family.  A quick jaunt into D.C. today to get my sister from the bus station reminded me never. ever to complain about traffic in Nashville.  The dial-up in my parents’ home has already caused me to rip out large chunks of my own hair in frustration.  It shouldn’t take a half-hour to read my email.  I’m not that popular!

I was perusing The Washington Post over breakfast this morning and found three interesting stories in the Metro section.

Governor Martin O’Malley has signed into law a measure that makes Maryland the first state in the nation to enact a “Living Wage”:

The “living wage” measure, which the General Assembly passed last month, will require contractors working in the Washington-Baltimore corridor to pay $11.30 an hour. For those in more rural counties, the minimum will be $8.50. The state’s minimum wage is $6.15.

Buh-bye, businesses of the Baltimore-Washington area … may you have greater success across the Potomac in Virginia. 

Washington, D.C.’s new mayor, Adrian Fenty, unveiled his great vision for D.C. public schools recently.  That vision is one that is unfortunately clouded by a corrupt local teachers’ union, crumbling school buildings, minimal parental involvement and crippling poverty.  So, it is understandable that Fenty would need a little help getting that 20/20 view that he desired:

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s administration copied significant portions of its education strategy verbatim from a plan developed by a North Carolina school system, even as the mayor seeks to show he has the vision and expertise to restructure governance of the District’s troubled public schools.

Fenty’s 31-page document is a blueprint of his plans to improve students’ academic performance. It contains passages that are virtually identical to some in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools’ strategic plan — including the opening statement describing the administration’s vision. Fenty’s document was submitted to the D.C. Council in late February in support of his proposal to take control of the public schools.

Perhaps Mayor Fenty sees plagairism as the best hope for D.C. students to pass their courses and graduate.  You would hope that a leader of a city would be a bit more optimistic about its young people.

And, finally, the Prince Georges County School Board (the governing body of my formative schooling) has voted to fire a fellow board member who is an accused sex offender.  Apparently, the former teacher may have had sex with one of his teenaged students:

… the charges against Thomas: that he had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy at Forestville Military Academy while he was a teacher of U.S. history and government. According to charging documents, Thomas engaged in sexual acts with the student at least three times from March to October 2005. The documents said that Thomas also allowed the student to watch pornographic videos.

The documents said the information came from the student, now 17, other witnesses and John E. Deasy, the superintendent of Prince George’s County schools.

The vote must now be approved by Governor O’ Malley.  After his living wage decision and his brand-new endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president, I must question the man’s judgement a bit.  Let’s hope he follows through with the board’s bold decision to remove a pedophile from a position of leadership in the school system!

I would write more about each of these topics, but I better end here before someone picks up the phone and I lose my connection! 

My irritation with cell phones has been stated repeatedly on this blog. My latest problem has developed at the gym. When I’m pumping some serious iron, I only like to hear the whirring of cardio machines, the clanging of weights and the grunts of pain emanating from the dude who is trying to lift too much. The gym has signs posted through the room stating, “This is a cell phone free area. If you must take a call, please go to the hallway.” However, there are some people who feel that this ban does not apply to them. So, my concentration gets interrupted by annoying people who are on their phones talking loudly in order to be heard over the whirring machines and the grunting men. These are not urgent conversations. Not once have I heard a person say, “Oh, my God! How much blood did he lose?” or “Did the fire destroy the entire house?” or “Tell your brother to put the gun down!” These are simply inane conversations about tomorrow’s soccer game or where someone is meeting for lunch.

What should I do in such a situation? I could try to block out the conversation instead of letting it consume me as I develop a seething rage. Should I expect one of the staff members to actually enforce the cell phone ban? This never happens. Should I confront the person and point to one of the many signs that he is flagrantly ignoring? This would be mighty bold. Instead, I choose to shoot sideway glances at the offender and perhaps even offer an audible sigh of disgust in a fantastic display of passive aggression. Then, I come home and write about it.

Almost as annoying is the mom who brings her young child to the park and spends the entire time pushing the cute tot on the swing with one hand and talking on her phone with the other. There’s some quality time for you! It’s not nearly as offensive as the mom who pushes the swing while taking deep drags from her cigarette, but cell phone mommy is a strong runner-up.

I decided to be festive yesterday and celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  So, I made chicken and spinach enchiladas and Spanish rice.  Then, the time came to make the beer selection.  I considered the Dos Equis, but it was $8.00 for a six-pack.  I can’t do Corona, as it reminds me of college boys who would stick their dirty thumbs in my bottle (there’s an unfortunate double entendre) to prove they could make the limes stay on the bottom.

I finally decided to go with Miller Lite.  I figured, as the talk show hosts tell me, half of Mexico is in the United States anyway (shout out to Phil V.) so why not integrate the two cultures.  The combination was magical. Gracias, Miller Brewing Company and Goya for helping me to prepare a lovely meal.

Yesterday at the gym, I passed my time on the treadmill by watching a replay of Tuesday’s Metro Council meeting (not for the first time, as noted previously on this blog). Today’s coverage of the Beer Board hearings was not as enthralling, so I turned to The View for some exercise accompaniment.

The gals were chatting about a newly discovered diary by Ronald Reagan. After Joy Behar made the lovely quip that the pages must have been filled with cave drawings, she went on to mention an excerpt in which Reagan shows his anger at Ron Jr. for hanging up on him. President Reagan writes that he will not talk with his son again until he apologizes. Joy’s response was as follows:

“President Reagan is credited with ending the Cold War. I don’t know if that’s true or not. However, he would never have hung up on or refused to talk to Gorbachev. The Cold War would never have ended So, why would he refuse to talk to his son?”

Oh, Joy. Please allow me to remind you of a cold northern city called Reykjavik (yes, I had to look up that spelling). Reagan walked out of a meeting with Gorbachev … an in-your-face hang up … because Gorbachev insisted that Reagan give up the Star Wars program.

Reykjavik, Margaret Thatcher says, was the turning point in the Cold War. Finally Gorbachev realized that he had a choice: continue a no-win arms race, which would utterly cripple the Soviet economy, or give up the struggle for global hegemony, establish peaceful relations with the West, and work to enable the Soviet economy to become prosperous like the Western economies. After Reykjavik, Gorbachev seems to have resolved on this latter course.

Gorbachev wasn’t sacrificing a pawn, he was giving up his bishops and his queen. The INF treaty was in fact the first stage of Gorbachev’s surrender in the Cold War.

So, as it turns out, being firm and refusing to talk when principles were at stake did help bring about the end to the Cold War. I’ll expect a retraction on Monday’s show.

Does everyone have those certain songs that you must crank to maximum volume when they come on your car radio?  I’ve heard three of them in the past week.

“Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen — Bruce sings with such desperation and urgency in this song.  We do have to get out while we’re young, Bruce!  Let’s go!  Just a great rock song.  You can go ahead and also put “Thunder Road” right up there as a Bruce song that must be played loud.  I could listen to that song over and over again.
“Africa” by Toto — Doo, do, do, da, do, do, doo.  Love it!  I just rear back my head and shout, “Gonna take a lot to drag me away from you!”  Catherine seems to enjoy this tune as well.

“We Belong” by Pat Benatar — Can’t beat the buildup at the end of the last verse, “I hear your voice inside me.  I see your face everywhere!”  Her powerful voice grows louder and the choir joins in to finish out the chorus.  I grip the steering wheel and sing all about belonging to the light and the thunder!

Several other songs that qualify but I haven’t been fortunate enough to hear recently:

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana

“Gin and Juice” by Snoop Dogg

“Sweet Child of Mine” by Guns ‘n’ Roses

“Regulate” by Warren G and Nate Dogg

“Fantasy” by Earth, Wind and Fire

I’m not making the argument that these are masterful examples of artistry, just that they provide perfect accompaniment to the open road.   I’m ready for a road trip!

I heard on WLAC this morning that a complaint has been made against Metro police Chief Serpas and his decision to close Club Mystic when its lease expires.  Apparently, some believe the closure is racist as Mystic serves primarily African American customers.  Really?  I thought the reason was due more to the fact that patrons tend to shoot each other there, or at least fight there and then shoot each other (or random people who tend to be in the way) elsewhere.

From The Tennessean:

Club Mystic, 166 Second Ave. N., will not be allowed to renew its sublease when it runs out June 30, police said. The club has been involved in more than 80 calls to police this year, including the shooting of four people about 9:30 Sunday night outside Hooters, 184 Second Ave. N.

The shooting came one week after a 21-year-old man was shot outside Club Mystic. 

Wow.  Sounds like this club provides a rollicking good time for all involved.  Why should the police possibly be concerned about such a harmless, peaceful establishment that maybe has a few (or 80) isolated incidents?

Wouldn’t a real racist statement be something like this:

“I realize that Club Mystic is a hotspot for violence.  But, the club is mostly for African American young people so the safety of that area is not really a priority for me.  Let’s just ignore the problem.”

If Serpas had taken that approach, then I would have been carrying the bullhorn to scream racism.  As it stands, I am glad to see Club Mystic’s doors closing.  I just wish it would happen immediately.