The television characters we get attached to are often completely fictional, so it’s relatively easy to see them come and go at a writer’s whim.  Not so for Friday Night Lights’ Jason Street, whose character is based on David Edwards, a high school footballer who has died a few days shy of his 21st birthday.

Just 20 years old, David was injured by playing high school football for San Antonio Madison in November 2003. He was a defensive back, and while going after a pass, he collided with an Austin Westlake receiver. Edwards’ neck was broken and the injury resulted in his becoming paralyzed.
…
Since FNL’s premiere in 2006, the Street character has been shown coping with life as a paraplegic, confined to a wheelchair.

Rob Shearer (and Kay Brooks also here) are reporting on the efforts by Rep. G.A. Hardaway (D-Memphis) to force homeschoolers and private schoolers to pass the public school’s Gateway exams to graduate.

You need to read their posts, but from what I see, Hardaway’s proposal sounds like the age old technique of forcing your way in (or out of) a gate by overwhelming the guard or gatekeeper . . . crashing the gate. Like most legislation, there’s more to this bill than meets the eye.

It sounds like to me that Hardaway is making some pretty nasty sausage.

According to rumors flying around the internet (ok, at the Nashville Post through VV), there may be a spokesperson job available soon. Pressure is hitting the Chairperson of the Republican State Executive Committee, Robin Smith, over the Husseining episode. From the Post:

As this story has been circulating, NashvillePost.com has spoken with Republican members of the state legislature and major donors to the party and the tenor of those conversations have been, “Don’t use my name, but a head needs to roll.”

Almost universally, support for GOP chair Robin Smith among donors and elected officials remains strong and she is getting high marks for her overall leadership of the state party. However, those same individuals who asked not to be named out of deference to her want to see a shake-up at her office and are pointing squarely at her communications director, Bill Hobbs.

According to Kleinheider,  the Executive Committee meeting will be held at 10:00am at Legislative Plaza in the Senate Committee Room preceded by subcommittee meetings at 9:30.

Update: Hobbs still there, promises to be with TNGOP on election day and beyond.

I was disturbed to read in a Jim V post this evening that the purported cost of the war in Iraq is $3 Trillion (believe it or not, someone has written a book about it!). That is a staggering sum. “Dang,” I thought (Jim facilitated me), “think of all the things we could have used that money on . . . think of how much we could have done for future generations?!”

First I wondered if that number was accurate, so I did a little digging. I trust Jim and all, but . . .

The Congressional Research Service (run by the Democratic-controlled Congress) determined in October of last year that the cost of Iraq War had been $455 billion. That’s not quite as staggering.

Then I wondered how that number compares with spending on other wars? According to data from the not-Neo-con Arms Control Center, we benefit from some perspective on our war-debt to income ratio:

As a percentage of U.S. gross-domestic product (GDP), however, the FY 2008 combined base budget and war funding requests remain well below previous conflicts. Funding for “National Defense” (budget function 050) was about 4.5% in FY 2007, compared to 14.2% and 9.4% at the height of the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, respectively.As a portion of the overall federal budget, defense spending declined from nearly 70% at the height of the Korean War, to below 50% percent at the height of the Vietnam War, to less than 20% in 2007.

And on the subject of debt, the data seems to demonstrate that we could still readily “grow” our way out of our current hole with reasonable restraint on spending.

If you’re wondering what was America’s most expensive war, it was WWII, which was supposed to have cost $ 3.2 trillion in today’s (actually 2007) dollars. For a majority of Americans at the start of this war, putting Jihadists on the defensive and removing Jihadist sanctuaries one by one if necessary was a worthwhile objective. And I still think that is a legitimate conclusion to draw.

~Emilie Buchwald~

Something I take entirely for granted is my ability to read. Reading and books have been apart of my life for as long as I can remember. For me, passing on the love of reading to my children has been very natural. There was no, “will I read to my children?” or “if I read to my children”. I just read to them everyday. Sometimes it’s because they’ve requested that I read to them. And there’s always reading time before bed time. I love hearing of other parents who taking reading to their kids seriously, as well.

From Lit(erature) On Fire:

We read to our son every night before bed.

Most nights we finish reading with the book I Love You Goodnight.

Often, I feel compelled to ask my son this one nerdy question before we read I Love You Goodnight. Tonight as we finished reading one of his favorite science books (he wants to be a mad scientist when he grows up), I opened I Love You Goodnight and asked him, “Do you know what this is?” He looked up at me with half a smile and half annoyance and said “Do I have to?”. I shook my head vigorously and he said with little enthusiasm, “A true story…” Yep.

I’m compelled to remind our Music City Bloggers readers about the Governor’s Books From Birth Foundation that supplies children in Tennessee a free, hardcover book each month. Any child age five and under, in Tennessee, is eligible for this program. Go here to find your county’s Imagination Library and the contact for information for signing up for the program.

Also, Nashville Public Library’s website offers a wonderful “kids section“. Children can even get their own library cards. Contact your local branch for details.

He that loves a book will never want a faithful friend,
a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter.
By study, by reading, by thinking, one may innocently
divert and pleasantly entertain himself,
as in all weathers, as in all fortunes.
~ Barrow ~

When I look back, I am so impressed again
with the life-giving power of literature.
If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of
myself in the world, I would do that again by reading,
just as I did when I was young.
~ Maya Angelou ~

If you can read this, thank a teacher.
~ Anonymous Teacher ~

It’s sounding more and more like there’s very little hope for a new minor league baseball stadium in downtown Nashville.  Well, at least under the current group that owns the Sounds.

In this morning’s Tennessean, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean said, “We’re certainly not going to offer a better deal, and we may not be able to offer the same deal.”

Team owners met with Dean yesterday to disucss an extension of the lease at Greer Stadium or a new ballpark.  The current lease runs out at the end of this season.  No decision has been made, though Dean said he wants to work to keep the team in Nashville.

However, reading Gail Kerr’s column this morning, things may not look good for the team.

The mayor told The Tennessean that he and Gordon didn’t discuss the lease, but it’s the buzz of Nashville: City officials are about to wash their hands of the current Nashville Sounds ownership. Gordon blew it last year, by letting the deal fall apart to build a new ballpark on riverfront land that used to house a garbage burning plant.

Gordon has shown himself to be arrogant. He has rarely shown his face in Nashville while, at the same time, having this sense of entitlement that we owe him a stadium, land, tax incentive financing and, perhaps, our first-born child.

So it’s no surprise that he’s getting the cold shoulder.

It could be an interesting season for the Sounds–and that’s just off the field.

On CNN’s political blog:

Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan formally denounced Thursday the Tennessee Republican Party’s use of Barack Obama’s full name in a recent press release questioning the Illinois senator’s commitment to Israel.

“The RNC rejects these kinds of campaign tactics,” RNC Chairman Mike Duncan said in a statement issued Thursday morning. “We believe this election needs to be about the critical issues confronting our nation.”

On Wednesday night the party removed both the photo and the reference of Hussein from the statement after Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander called to express his belief that using them had become a distraction, Tennessee GOP Communications Director Bill Hobbs told CNN.

As in trillion. Three trillion. That’s unimaginable as numbers go, but what’s the importance of it? According to a Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz, that is how much the Iraq war has cost the United States. Stiglitz is a former member of President Clinton’s COuncil of Economic Advisors and a critic of globalization. According to the Guardian newspaper:

Some time in 2005, Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, who also served as an economic adviser under Clinton, noted that the official Congressional Budget Office estimate for the cost of the war so far was of the order of $500bn. The figure was so low, they didn’t believe it, and decided to investigate. The paper they wrote together, and published in January 2006, revised the figure sharply upwards, to between $1 and $2 trillion. Even that, Stiglitz says now, was deliberately conservative: “We didn’t want to sound outlandish.”

Stiglitz and Bilmes dug deeper, and what they have discovered, after months of chasing often deliberately obscured accounts, is that in fact Bush’s Iraqi adventure will cost America - just America - a conservatively estimated $3 trillion. The rest of the world, including Britain, will probably account for about the same amount again. And in doing so they have achieved something much greater than arriving at an unimaginable figure: by describing the process, by detailing individual costs, by soberly listing the consequences of short-sighted budget decisions, they have produced a picture of comprehensive obfuscation and bad faith whose power comes from its roots in bald fact.

Three trillion dollars could have fixed Social Security for the next five hundred years (that would be important to our children’s great-great-great grandchildren’s great-great-great-great grandchildren) or hired 45 million public school teachers. By 2017, we Americans will have paid $1 trillion in interest payments on the debt required just to fight this war. Since we as a people aren’t doing all that much saving, we’re paying this debt to countries like China and Dubai.

Their book, which also details how the true costs were hidden by the administration, is called The Three Trillion Dollar War, authors Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, and it is published by Allen Lane.

From Aunt B who is processing the whole TNGOP/Hobbs fallout this morning which keeps continuing like the Energizer Bunny on crack.

This is the other thing I’ve been thinking about in terms of the whole Obama-Farrakhan thing and what the TNGOP flaks are up to in this press release.

And here is my question:

Do you think that the Beatles are responsible for what Charles Manson’s followers did?

By all accounts, Manson loved the Beatles, Beatles lyrics were left in the homes of Manson’s followers’ victims, and, if I’m remembering Helter Skelter correctly, Manson found meaning and direction in “The White Album” when plotting the murders.

So, since Manson loved the Beatles, I ask you, are the Beatles responsible for those murders?

I assume you believe that they are not.

And, as such, how in the world can Obama be responsible for inspiring Farrakhan?

Read the rest at Tiny Cat Pants.

If you’ve been following the video war between Jimmy Kimmel and girlfriend Sarah Silverman, and especially if you’re a Kevin Smith fan, you’ll like this.

Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogan are starring in the newest Smith film and are following up the much talked about Matt Damon/Ben Affleck videos with a raunchy version that can only come from this crew.  Watch for a cameo from my future ex-husband Jason Mewes.

Of course, “Kevin Smith” is code for extremely salty language, and while the Kimmel and Silverman videos have any curse words bleeped out, the third one is definitely NSFW.

Michael Jackson may lose his merry-go-round and the rest of his estate due to nonpayment of mortgage. 

“There are plenty of lenders willing to work with him. The real estate market is very bad right now and Jackson is being affected just like many other Americans,” the source said.

I wonder if the [maybe] Bahrainian had a subprime loan when he bought the Neverland Ranch.  Maybe he had an ARM.  Or maybe he’s been laid off work or had a major medical problem.  But not to worry!  The same source says it’s unlikely that Jackson will allow the home to be foreclosed when he just caught up with the taxes on it a few weeks ago. 

Speaking of taxes… Slarti posted a while back that property taxes may be going up.

I don’t know what this will mean in your household, but in ours, reappraisal means our annual taxes go up. Most of the time, pretty substantially. It’s like a tax hike without anyone having to take the political hit for instituting a tax hike.

Meanwhile, the foreclosure market is alive and well in Spring Hill.  Local agent Rodney offers some advice about buying a foreclosure:

Yes. There are alot of foreclosed properties on the market. However, there are alot of existing and new homes that have significantly come down in price as well.  …AND…

Most home owners who have fallen in foreclosure over the last 2 years, owe just as much on the house as it’s worth. In reality, the banks want as much of their money back as possible. So, don’t always assume it will be an even better deal than an existing or new home.

I read not-too-long-ago that the Tennessee Bankers Association has asked the state to set up a database that will track foreclosures in the state.  The link in the Tennessean is lost behind a pay-for-a-password-archive, so you bloggers who hate bloggers who regurgitate the news have lucked out!

The Predators are playing on the road for the next few games, but that doesn’t mean that you have to miss them.

Catch the Predators versus the Buffalo Sabres tonight  starting at 6pm on the channel of your choice or with Pete and Terry on the radio at 104.5.

This is the only game this week and there will be a slight break before the Saturday night game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas and then the always interesting Western Canada road trip.

Well, it’s starting to get all warm and friendly in the political world. Everybody’s gettting along famously. Wait. What’s that? The Tennessee Republican Party says voting for Obama is anti-Semitic? According to Dork Nation, that press release from Bill Hobbs is getting coverage too. Brittney, who has physically, and hasn’t metaphysically, left town noted it, but so have a few others around here and there.

The GOP response to whether calling another candidate by their middle name is appropriate (since their candidate doesn’t think it is)? According to the City Paper, Robin Smith said, “You can call his momma and daddy on that one.”

Big Orange Michael takes a break from blogging about UT sports today to wish his niece a very happy birthday and observe how quickly kids grow-up:

In the past year, we’ve gone from my reading book to her at bedtime, to her wanting to read to me–and her being able to do it. I had a lot of fun this year, travelling down memory lane as I picked out a couple of “big girl” books as party of her birthday present. …I bought her two of my favorites that I read when I was her age–the first two Ramona books.

Ah, the Ramona books! I loved those. I should introduce those to my own daughter soon.

Coco has it right on the money:

Man to be a kid in the south. Granted, the country ice-covered roads are a good reason to close the schools in wintry weather, but the kids in my hood have it made. For serious they could go to the movies if they have transportation and the inclination. They are not homebound.

She takes a stroll down memory lane about snow days in New York. It sounds similar to memories my husband, who grew up in New Jersey, has about winter wonderlands.

SistaSmiff threw caution to the wind and went to work anyway!

The newspeople made it sound like the Blizzard of the Century…”DON’T leave home unless you HAVE to” they said…all a’twitter.

I think it took me 15 minutes to get to work and I live in one of the “hard hit” counties.

The newspeople SistaSmiff referred to must have had Middle Tennessee confused with East Tennessee. Go take a gander at what’s going on in K-ville.

BlondeMom wonders:

The girls woke up and ran to the front window, although we really just have a dusting of snow. What is it with the wimpy snow in Nashville the past few years?…it’s kind of nice for winter to have one last hurrah, even if it is kind of wimpy. At least the girls get to stay home for the day

For Ivy, today’s snow means everyone must go to the doctor with her!

We got another snow day today, which would normally be great, but I have another appointment at the gynecologist’s office today. … The problem is that because of the snow, I don’t feel comfortable leaving everyone at home with my 13 year old. That means I have to bring everyone with me to the appointment. This should be fun.

Emily of On Awesome Avenue took a picture of the fluffy white stuff at her house:

Well…that’s a quite bit more than at my place!

Tennessee Mom has pics at her place, too.

More as I find them…

Terry Frank (and, linkwise, State Rep. Stacey Campfield) has a post (with pix) about a problem at her polling place in Clinton County. As someone who dabbles in election law and has served as an election official, I am interested in the subject.

I wouldn’t characterize this as election fraud–I perceive that it’s Democrats (at least in this part of the country) who wouldn’t realize that election officials can’t direct you to vote in a particular primary, so no harm done (I don’t suspect many Democrats were itching to vote in the GOP primary this go ’round). That being said, poll workers are to scrupulously avoid directing voters about how to vote (though I’m not sure there is a direct prohibition of this, frankly), and the problem is that you cannot be given another ballot once you have chosen your primary/election, have been given the “ballot application” and actually realize, “Hey, all these candidates are &%#*@ Democrats!”

Rather, I’d say it is cluelessness or laziness/laxity. The official in Terry’s polling place (a) isn’t supposed to “fill out” the sample ballot that is displayed outside the polling place, and (b) should have realized that there were other ways of communicating to voters waiting in line that they are required to select one or the other primary/election in which to vote. But cluelessness and laxity are the crack in the door for less-than-honorable persons who, for example, falsely claim to be a legitimate voter and are allowed to cast a ballot. Some of these less-than-honorable folks are on the inside, but generally it is laxity on the part of others in the polling place that enables shenanigans to take place.

I am wary of frivolous and ubiquitous accusations of “election fraud.” Over the past few cycles such claims have served Democrats well in undermining the legitimacy of those who’ve bested them at the polls. That is “election fraud.”

Pleasant dreams last night as the last image I saw before falling asleep was a smiling Joe Dubin announcing Vanderbilt’s 72-69 win over the University of Tennessee. I don’t have cable, so I didn’t get to see the game, but luckily, Laura Creekmore was liveblogging the event and has all the highlights.

*snip*

10:03 Bless those Vols and their poor FT shooting.

*snip*

I think I heard more than a few UT fans saying that exact same thing last Saturday night. But I digress. Check out Laura’s blog (usually more about food than sports) for her very entertaining commentary.

Hutchmo wrote up his thoughts over at his place including this one:

It’s pretty bad when fans yell at refs for making calls in FAVOR of their team, begging to let the game unfurl naturally.

Really? Now I’m really sore I missed this game. Hello, Comcast? Um, yeah…

Vandy grad Busy Mom keeps it short and sweet: “Yee. Effing. Hah.”

And what about MCB contributor Big Orange Michael? The smack talk has subsided in favor of delusion:

I know we lost and I’ll give credit to Vanderbilt for playing a good game and catching the Vols at the right time to pull off an upset. But that said, we don’t know what will happen this week. Perhaps Memphis will have its own stumble following the spotlight and national attention of Saturday night. Another couple of teams below us could lose and we could stay stay number one. I’m not saying it’s likely, but I am saying that it could happen.

Seriously? Stay number one after being beaten by a #16? Um, no. I’m not sure that Memphis is going to automatically regain their top spot, but I do think that (and this is good news for fans across the state, for the most part) we’ll see three Tennessee universities in the top 10 on Monday. Not the state’s largest university, though. Sorry, Blue Raiders. 

Aside: How much do I love the photo of Bruce Pearl over on the Commercial Appeal’s website? Lots and lots. Vandy’s win wiped the smug right off his face. I, personally, have never been happier about the outcome of an SEC basketball game.

Unless of course, you want this to happen…

Now maybe your kids will listen to you when you warn them about swallowing chewing gum!

(h/t: my friend Lisa in VA)

Glen Dean has critiqued “populism” in a post at TenneseeFree.com (”Populism threatens liberty in a republic”). One passage that stood out to me was this one:

Another thing that will help this nation and preserve liberty is a spiritual awakening. I am not talking about religion, but spiritual growth. The more people become generally happy and joyous, and free of anger and resentment, replacing those emotions with love and tolerance, the less likely they are to be stirred up by the negative message of populism.

This was sort of an aside about the issue of “populism,” but it reminded me of an article I read recently (sorry, subscription required for entire article). The article, entitled “New Neighbors” was going to be the anchor to a post challenging Religious Conservatives on how they view John McCain on immigration (stay tuned for that one). Nevertheless, it emphasized for me the importance of appealing to reason and the “better angels of our nature,” if you will. (I’m picturing Abe Lincoln–who made that phrase famous, with the “better angel” on one shoulder and the, uh, “worse-r angel” on the other shoulder).

Anyway, I think we need to hold politicians to account for their appeals. I know, I know; some of you (”William”?) are going to accuse me of not holding the criminals (aka “Bush administration appointees,” all of them) to account these past few years,* but I’m talking about fundamental stuff–the kind of stuff we get in fundraising mail pieces and read on partisan websites or hear on the radio. All Americans benefit if we accept that accountability begins at home. Let’s expect more from our leaders. Yes we can.

*aside: Jonah Goldberg had an interesting insight about Dubya’s purported fear mongering after 9/11 by noting that he prominently urged Americans to “go shopping.” (also here).

Two seeming examples of the divide on acceptable campaign rhetoric: David Oatney and Brendan Loy have a different perspective on McCain’s “B. Hussein Obama” opening act.

Update: Mack at Coyote Chronicles weighs in (though I think he’s dreaming in his assertions about generational appeal or the general decline in popularity of Talk Radio–not to mention his characterization of it).

…and it’s fabulous - as is anything my Mario touches!  And for each download $1 is donated to your local America’s Second Harvest - the nation’s largest charitable hunger relief organization.  So if that won’t make you click here, well then i give up.

All recipes in The Celebrity Italian Table Cookbook were developed by star chef Mario Batali, based on favorite pasta dishes submitted by the celebrity contributors. While the celebrities all had favorite pasta dishes, they did not necessarily have the recipes to go along with them — so our star chef developed delicious new authentic Italian versions of these recipes inspired by the celebrities’ tastes. In addition, Batali includes an appetizer and dessert for each recipe for a complete three course meal.

The Celebrity Italian Table - brought to you by your friends at Barilla. 

As the world’s #1 pasta company and the leading brand in America, Barilla believes it has a responsibility to help alleviate the hunger issue in America. The Celebrity Italian Table Cookbook was developed as a way to blend its passion for pasta with a meaningful cause the company cares about.

Barilla has supported America’s Second Harvest — The Nation’s Food Bank Network, since 1997, and created The Celebrity Italian Table Cookbook as a way to increase awareness around hunger issues in the United States and the important work carried out by America’s Second Harvest.

Buon Appetito!

Taken from work today by Jeffraham…just beautiful…

No blockbusters this year folks, but then no one really expected any. Only one trade listed so far for the Preds, Jan Hllavac from the Tampa Bay Lightning for a 7th round draft pick .  Paul Nicholson’s already got some thoughts and reactions ready for you.

I’ve heard rumors of another trade registered but not completed, but I’m not holding my breath at this time. So for everybody that had their wishlists for giveaways and keepers, the team is maintaining the status quo at this time and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Sean Braisted is challenging at his Nashville21 blog some of Barack Obama’s rhetoric (Sean’s an Obama supporter, if you weren’t aware of it) and seeming aversion to the Liberal label. Go read his post, it’s a short one. Then please come back.

Sorry Sean, but I think he is wise to distance himself from that label. But I think that Braisted’s missing the point of this example of Obama’s rhetoric. And I think that the strength of Obama’s rhetoric in this instance is that it is true . . . to a point.

It isn’t a “Liberal” value to “want[ing] to make sure that everybody has healthcare,” or to “mak[ing] sure [our soldiers] are treated properly when they come home,” or even to wanting to reduce the inordinate influence of money in politics. The “Liberal-ness” comes in when you start discussing the best, smartest, and most effective (to include liberty-honoring) way to accomplish these goals. I think Sean is very politically astute, but such framing of the issues (Obama’s, that is) is the secret to Democratic success in elections.

At the risk of motivating Liberals and Democrats to cease and desist, I have to admit it is somewhat entertaining to watch their primary battle. Recently it has been the story about Sen. Obama’s failure (at least previously) to implement a silly-hat policy. (To coin a phrase, the longer this primary goes on, the smarter Fred Thompson looks.)

Corrente is blaming the messenger Drudge.

So are the Tennessee Guerilla Women (believe it or not, they managed to mention Karl Rove in the post).

Sharon Cobb is calling this spade a spade–Clintons being Clintons. Then she asserts the coziness between Drudge and the Clintons. (That’s news to me).

Sean Braisted (despite his Pavrovian title) has a nice round-up of the issue.

I’m curious to see if this redounds to BOTH Democrats the way the NYT whisper/hit piece has for McCain.

Agin’ them thievin’ Georgia crackers trying to steal our water, that is. It seems that Rep. Gary Odum has fired an opening volley.

(His legislation) calls Georgia’s effort an “election-year ploy” that is little more than a “veiled attempt to commandeer the resources of the Tennessee River for the benefit of water-starved Atlanta, which is either unable or unwilling to control its reckless urban sprawl.”

Moving it would not only take in part of Marion County but also parts of Chattanooga, East Ridge and Lookout Mountain in Hamilton County as well as part of Bradley County. Georgia officials’ main interest, however, appears to be gaining access to Tennessee River water.

 Yee ha! h/t tn politics blog. I heard reports that GA is looking for a billion gallons of water from the river but haven’t gound that stat online.

Edit: it’s a resolution, not legislation.