LeBlanc wrote Arlen Specter a letter regarding Spygate.

Here’s a snippet and what he got back.

I am not sure if you will actually read this or not. This is the first time I have ever taken the time to send anything to a Senator. I realize that you are not from my home state of Tennessee but I felt compelled to write. With all of the important issues facing Americans today including housing, gasoline, the war, and not to mention the economy and upcoming election, why would tax payer money and government time be wasted with continuing an investigation into the NFL’s New England Patriots and the league itself? It is time to move on and focus on things that are truly important to the country. I am a huge sports fan myself and appreciate getting to the bottom of an important issue such as cheating but please it is time to focus on the issues.

I was quite proud of myself. There was nothing fancy in it. I wasn’t rude, just to the point. I waited with baited breath to read the form email that I expected to receive. I didn’t expect this:

I receive a large volume of E-mails, phone calls, faxes and letters every week from concerned citizens like yourself.
Unfortunately, due to the high volume of mail, I can only respond if you’re a resident of Pennsylvania.

LeBlanc isn’t happy with Specter. Not in the least. 

Unbelievable.


h/t: Coyote Chronicles & Chez Coma

Goldnl reports from the “You’ve Gotta Be Kidding Files”

From the people who made it legal to eat roadkill comes another entry into the “Sh*t You Couldn’t Make Up If You Tried” files, in the form of a crucial State Senate vote from today:

Go read what they voted for.

Your tax dollars at work, campers.

Our girl, Newscoma, has an amazing ability to get the more distinguished commenters over at her place!

Just a few months ago, none other than Norman Lear showed up to comment about the story of Loraine Barr!

This morning, gold medal great Bruce Jenner himself made us squee because ‘Coma made him laugh.

I don’t know about anybody else, but I think it’s pretty darn cool.

Cuppa reports this:

With a budget of nearly 6 billion dollars, funded by your taxes, the National Science Foundation decided it would be money well spent for a survey asking “Who’s Happier - Conservatives or Liberals”?

Now I can’t say I knew that there was a “scientific” definition of Conservative, Liberal, right-wing or left-wing. And I did not notice any definitions in reports on the survey. But the study says:

More here. 

Rowrrr.

Problem is, it reeks of arrogance, which is what is fueling this “war” betweens bloggers and mainstream guys. Whether they admit it or not, the mainstream good-old-boys club is, to some extent, being threatened. Thanks to blogs, they’re discovering that there are people out there who know grammar and structure and how to turn a phrase who choose to write about sports. And some of those writers are really good. And some of those writers get readers. And if they get big enough, they make money and go get yelled at on HBO. Turns out writing about sports isn’t rocket surgery. OF course we don’t have editors or fact checkers. That’s why some of the old school guys are going batshit crazy. People are writing and getting read and there’s no way for them to stop it, so they play the you’re-not-trained and the you’re-not legitimate cards from up in their ivory press box. I’ve never read a sports blog that I consider hard news. It’s pure entertainment.

Making It Rain is raising hell about this that happened last week.

And it is of the good. Love me a good fight.

Truly, I’m speechless.

ht: Deadspin

Jeffraham Prestonian had a run with a police officer earlier this week. He tells it better than I can:

I have my camera with me, so I take it out, take a couple of quick, non-flash snaps of the sign, as I stood on the sidewalk several feet outside this business. I turn to re-enter the restaurant next door, and am accosted by a woman — “Who are you?! Why you take picture!?” I told her I was about to have dinner, and went inside.

She followed me inside the restaurant, repeating herself. I told her that I saw something on the wall of the business I wanted to photograph, and that there was nothing wrong with what I had done. She demanded that I erase the photo(s). I told her I would not, and that if she felt wronged, she should call the police — “862-8600, my dear. They are just over the hill from where we are, now.”

Well, apparently, she did.

Read the rest of JP’s run in with a restaurant owner and the police at Presto Change-O! 

I was intrigued with Claudia’s find here, but I’ve gotta tell ya…I’m horrified at what the Squirrel Queen is bringing to the party!

eeeeeek!

A.C. Kleinheider, of Volunteer Voters is leaving WKRN due to budget cutting measures. Having been there twice, I know some of what A.C.’s going through. The political atmosphere of blogging has lost a leader and WKRN has screwed up once again. Having taken a national leadership position in blogging as an addendum to news journalism by bringing on two people who changed the nature of blogging in the country, they have decided that shooting themselves in the foot once wasn’t effective enough at removing them from the future. They have now succeeded in becoming an average run-of-the-mill television station rather than a harbinger of the future. Good bye, A.C. You became very good at what you do while at Volunteer Voters and I sincerely hope there will be another opportunity show up quickly. You deserve it.

What was initially a six month freelance gig to cover among other things a hard fought contested 2006 Senate Race became a full time mission to cover the political blogosphere here in Tennessee. Not only did we see that race to its conclusion we saw a new mayor elected in Nashville and we got darn near through the longest Presidential Primary season in history in here in 2008.

Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to see that last one to the end with you. Today, March 14, was my last day at WKRN here in Nashville. Like many cherished colleagues before me at the Deuce, I have fallen prey to those unfortunate media budget cuts you hear about all too often these days.

Go by and wish him well. As one commenter put it,

WKRN is making a very foolish and short-sighted decision in my opinion. It HAD the go-to political blog in Tennessee, and the station shut it down. Hell, I read VV a helluva lot more than I visit the WKRN website. Why not shut it down instead?

Pacman Jones lawyer and agent Manny Arora in an interview with an Atlanta radio station:

(I’m) contacting college teams to see if they would be interested in having Jones speak to athletes about the consequences of making bad decisions.

Are you freaking kidding me?

Michigan womens’ basketball team loses to Wisconsin. Michigan coach Kevin Borseth doesn’t seem to rebound from the loss too well..witness his post-game chat with the press. I don’t think he cared a lot for the officiating, either.

Thanks to the wonderful Squirrel Queen, from whence this video was purloined borrowed.

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.”

As usual, Rachel and Aunt B bring to our attention something so important — something that could very well affect me, you, or a close loved one should such a tragic situation like this arise. That is, in some states if you or a loved one is raped, not only do you have to go through the further humiliation of a “rape exam,” but the victim has to pay for the forensics testing as well!

The Vol Abroad notes that (finally) in Tennessee, legislation was passed wherein the cost will be funded by the Victim’s Compensation Fund for sexual assault victims; however, that will most likely be a reimbursement rather than out and out payment. Thus, the victim has to pay for it and then go through a bunch of red tape to be reimbursed.

I’m sorry, but what a bunch of bullshit.

I really appreciate and agree with what Mack had to say on this topic today:

Isn’t the sole purpose of the kit to gather evidence? As such, it seems like an expense that should be covered by the police, or the State.

I ‘m wondering if I show up at an ER claiming to have been shot, if I would be charged for collecting and storing the bullet fragments as evidence? Or, what if the police want to make sure I didn’t shoot myself, and gave me a GSPR test? (Gun shot powder residue) Should I have to pay for that? What if I decide not to press charges? Is it OK to charge me for the costs incurred investigating the crime?

I’m just sitting wondering what kind of message this sends to women. Are we saying that they, as victims of rape, are somewhat, kinda sorta, in a way complicit? I think it does.

RockyCat probably doesn’t mean to be cracking me up with stories of the neighbor trying to kill her.  Her neighbor is not-so-affectionately dubbed Jabba and Jabba is not her friend.

While I could smell smoke, there was no visible smoke in my apartment, and while I could hear a smoke alarm, it was not my smoke alarm.At first I figured that one of the guys in the building had stayed up late, gotten drunk, put a TV dinner in the oven, and then passed out, until the TV dinner incinerated itself to a smoky, smelly crisp. When you live in a building full of guys, that scenario is a familiar one.

I left the funniest stuff out of her pull-quote because I aim for a G-rating.

She needs to report him to the rotten neighbor site, which I refuse to link to because it just nauseates me.  Yes some a lot of the posts are hilarious, but given that home addresses are given along with maps… well that’s just scary.  Here’s an example of someone dissed by their neighbor:

lets he kids cuss and at every one runs in the middle of the road and dooges cars the mom is a bad inflence and drinks maybe even does drugs half the day (sic)

“Maybe even does drugs half the day” yikes!

Pete Johnson posts a good editorial on Chattanoogan.com regarding this week’s declaration by Georgia of its intentions to challenge the Tennessee border.

And that is precisely why there is no issue: shoddy surveying can’t change the state’s lines, but a state’s inaction sure will. Georgia will lose this land for exactly the same reason it lost the Barnwell Islands in the Savannah River to South Carolina. Tennessee has established sovereignty over this strip by prescription and acquiescence since Georgia has done nothing to tax, police, or patrol the property for well over the requisite period of time since discovering the error.

To that, I say, “hell, yeah“–Georgia’s latest interest in that strip of land has less to do with correcting some 200 year old error than it does with feeding its industry and McMansions with water from the Tennessee River. I echo Southern Beale’s comment over at yesterday’s post on Volunteer Voters:

Peach Staters do not DESERVE our agua. Against all logic, they have shown themselves to be foolhardy and wasteful with their resource. While Orne, TN, was rationing themselves to three hours of running water a DAY, Atlanta allowed the Coca Cola bottling plant to chug along full-speed-ahead, and Six Flags Over Georgia went ahead with their 1.2 million gallon mountain of snow on an 81-degree day in September.

Indeed. Georgia’s water shortage has nothing to do with state line boundaries and has everything to do with tremendous population growth, poor planning/infrastructure, and an explosion of McMansions in the metro Atlanta area (which just about encompasses the state these days). Newsflash Georgia: we had a drought here, too. And we have more farms that feed people than you do. And the water that came out of my faucet alternated between smelling and tasting like pond water and pool water this summer. It turned my once-shiny and dark hair orange and frizzy. And I lost one large tree and a lot of landscaping this summer, so I have absolutely no sympathy for you and your conspicuous water consumption. Last I checked, you were adjacent to an ocean.

UPDATE: More commentary and links from Jim Voorhies.

…um…wow.

Hard to imagine what might be behind a legislative proposal in Mississippi filed Friday which seeks to ban obese people from eating in restaurants. Using the BMI scale, the bill (HB282) demands that any customer whose BMI is 30 or above be refused entry or service.

Blogger Sandy Swarcz at Junkfood Science tried to find out from the bill’s sponsor (one W.T. Mayhall Jr., born in Memphis and a U of M alum) what was happening and writes:

“I called lead author, Rep. Mayhall, and asked if this was serious legislation or tongue-in-cheek to make a point. He kindly took a moment to answer my question while the legislature was in session. He said that while, regrettably, he doesn’t believe his bill will pass, this is serious. He wrote it, he said, because of the “urgency of the obesity crisis and need for government action.” He hopes it will “call attention to the serious problem of obesity and what it is costing the Medicare system.”

Does Mayhall know Stacey Campfield? ‘Cause I’m thinking they might just get along.

[Note from your Health Editor: I have commentary on this as well, and Aunt B says, “But I’m fat! And I have tourist dollars! And a dream of eating red hot tamales in the Delta!”]

No, seriously. That appears to be the new consensus. (At least for white guys who aren’t voting Republican, that is. I’m sure Ned’s not shallow.) I heard two talking heads on NPR last night discussing how we are lost now that Edwards has pulled out because all we have to choose from is a black man and a white woman. He had no idea who the liberal white buy block would vote for. I had no idea we even were a block. I mean, conservatives have called liberal white guys the intelligentsia for years and years, for heaven’s sake, but that must not mean we were smart, just pretending or something. I had absolutely no idea. (I have to confess, this isn’t the first time I’ve found myself to be clueless - after all, I’ve been married for decades - but still….)

I guess I just have to envy Mack because at least Hispanic guys can make choices. They’re also talking about this over at Aunt B’s. Sigh. All those years I spent learning about the issues, all wasted. Now what? Oh, wait. I am married. Maybe I’m supposed to wait for a woman to tell me what to do. Whew. I feel so much better about this now.

I thought you’d be interested in a follow-up on the info about Sprint and an endless spasm of fraud which I posted yesterday.

In The Editor’s attempt to correct the problem she encountered another glaring lack - the Knox PD failed to verify her identity, which made the LAPD balk instead of taking action:

What the KPD doesn’t seem to get is that LAPD wants the K-town police to verify that I am who I say I am. And when Sgt. MC waved the police report in front of me saying, “You have this!” she failed to reason that NO ONE EVER VERIFIED MY IDENTITY WHEN THEY TOOK THAT REPORT! If someone knew my name and a phone number, they could have made that report.

LAPD wants KPD to verify who I am. And I don’t see what’s wrong with that, given that the reason I’m in this situation in the first place is because Sprint didn’t do much to verify someone’s identity who claimed to be me.

I just kept waiting for and hoping that one of the departments would suck it up, act like a grown up, and take the high road. Instead, I felt like I was in this fight between two spoiled children trying to get out doing chores. I mean, honestly! There I was, standing in the police station with all my ID and information, and all they needed to do was FAX the LAPD’s Financial Fraud Department. But, “That’s a long distance call!”

Her post is here.

First of all, this is what’s happening with a breakdown written by the folks at the Cool Dog Hall of Fame

I am very sad to report this morning that Breed Specific Legislation has been introduced into the Tennessee General Assembly. This legislation, Senate Bill 2738, would make it a crime in this state to even own a so-called “pit bull” type dog. “Pit bull” type dogs are defined as “any American pit bull terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American bulldog, or American Staffordshire Terrier, or any mixed breed dog that contains fifty percent of its lineage from those breeds.” And, the bill would “Force any person found guilty of owning a “pit bull dog” to surrender custody and forfeit ownership of the dog to a humane society.” It’s about as bad as it gets. (It’s a good bet that the dogs would be put to sleep once surrendered to a humane society.)

Tennessee dog owners will be fighting this wrong-headed legislation.

Aunt B. is more than pissed. She’s furious.

I don’t know how we ensure this never gets out of committee, but we’ve got to do it. Tell me, folks what can be done and I’ll be at the capitol doing it.

Can I trade him my right hand for her? My kidney? I’ll give him a kidney if he lets me keep my dog. That’s a more than fair trade as far as I’m concerned.

Say Uncle also agrees:

We seem to have gotten along without it thus far. You can contact Tommy and let him know that breed specific legislation is pointless at:

District Address
118 Henry Heidel Lane
Wartburg, TN 37887

Nashville Address
10A Legislative Plaza
Nashville, TN 37243-0212
Phone (615) 741-1449
Fax (615) 253-0237
Staff Contact: Nadine Korby, Jeremy Davis, Research Analyst

Finally, from Michael Silence:

Geez. When will people finally get fed up with government telling them what to do?

Hey legislators. Go read this. That way when it happens you’ll know what it is.

More as I find them …

Well, no. It didn’t. And I’m with Katie Allison Granju when I say that I am not a fan of the wintry mix. Hell, I’m 42-years-old and still make snow angels.

I want snow.

Cuppa Joe makes an excellent point about the snow insanity from yesterday:

I’m willing to bet cash money there was a super-secret provision in the surrender agreement signed at the end of the Civil War.

What was it?

Any time a snowflake falls to the ground in any state south of the Mason-Dixon Line, any business or school or government office can declare a legal holiday.

And Winston, who is probably one of the most clever men around, writes this:

Sunrise this morning finds Nashville and most of the Middle Tennessee area beginning the slow and dangerous process of digging out from the worst blizzard in recent memory. The entire region was buried in as much as 1/4 inch of heavy, wet snow. Some outlying area reported accumulations as much as 1/2 inch. Temperatures are not helping the dangerous conditions as thermometers plunged below freezing, dipping as low as 29 degrees in some parts of the area.

Heh. I love it when men get all snarky and groovy.

Good job, boys.

Could it be that identity fraud is being initiated by large companies?

I’m starting to think so, especially after reading of the nightmare scenario from The Editor, aptly titled “Why Sprint Sucks”. The Editor has endured totally unacceptable treatment at the hands of Sprint. 4 times now, the company has contacted her seeking large amounts of cash for accounts she did not start. The Editor has NEVER had a Sprint account. And they demand she prove she is a victim, despite the fact the company has victimized her 4 freakin’ times.

“I contact Sprint and finally get through to a person (hitting 0 a lot helps), and give them the account number. They tell me the account was open in December 2005 from an LA phone number and address. They tell me three lines were open under this account!!! The phone number given was my old phone number. They tell me one of the addresses associated with the account is my old address and there is another address that I have never lived at. I know no one that lives at this address. It is one of the addresses that showed up on my credit report. I tell them that this is the 4th time someone has fraudulently opened or tried to open an account in my name with Sprint. That prior to 2005 I had expressly asked that no account should EVER be opened in my name, and yet, here we were with an account in my name. Last time Sprint actually contacted me to ask. So what gives? I gave them specific instructions as to what questions MUST be answered in order for an account to be open.”

—

“I receive the Fraud Packet from Sprint. The fraud packet is set up under the assumption that you, the victim, must prove your innocence. It asks more from me than it did of the criminal who stole my identity.”

Her post also includes nearly a dozen links to other reports on Sprint’s bad, bad policies.

So imagine hundreds and hundreds of people intentionally set up with false accounts, unable or too fatalistic to fight back. Who benefits most?

Old pals Say Uncle and Les Jones have picked up on a column I found intriguing. It is about the compassion that people have for each other. This being the Holiday Season of Peace, I found what Dave Lindorff wrote in the Baltimore Chronicle and Sentinel quite interesting.

Mr. Lindorff wants Red Staters to die.

Because they have blasphemed the Sun God Algoracle. Not even the great philosopher Rodney King can help this hater.  He doesn’t want to get along. He wants the Red State scum to die, or at the least suffer greatly. 

Mr. Lindorff writes, “Say what you will about the looming catastrophe facing the world as the pace of global heating and polar melting accelerates. There is a silver lining. The future political map of America is likely to look a lot different, with much of the so-called “red” state region either gone or depopulated.”

But surely we will want to give aid to those drowning and starving wretches. Right?

Not exactly. Mr. Lindorff explains, “The important thing is that we, on the higher ground both actually and figuratively, need to remember that, when they begin their historic migration from their doomed regions, we not give them the keys to the city. They certainly should be offered assistance in their time of need, but we need to keep a firm grip on our political systems, making sure that these guilty throngs who allowed the world to go to hell are gerrymandered into political impotence in their new homes.”

I hate to tell Mr. Lindorff that the cities he is referring to, the high ground as it were, will be under water if his apocalyptic fantasy were to come true.

I’ve been largely offline for the last three weeks, which is why I was very confused when I came back to see various folks talking about FaceBook Beacon. I’m on Facebook, but I’m contemplating getting off, because I was told they claim publishing rights to everything you have on your Facebook account–including “Notes”, which are imports of your blog writing. Not that my blog writing is going to change the world or anything, but I’ll keep my own publishing rights for my work, thank you.

Anyway, what is Beacon?

It collects data on the behavior of Facebook users on several commercial websites such as eBay, Fandango, Zappos and Overstock.com. [1] When a Facebook user purchases an item at one of these websites, Facebook provides a way for the user to advertise their purchase on their Facebook News Feed.[2] While users can decline sending out the advertising, Facebook does not allow users to opt out of the data collection and behavior monitoring.[3][4] Even if you opt out, click “no thanks”, and log out of Facebook, Beacon will still be surreptitiously collecting your web browsing behavior data and sending it to Facebook. [5][6]

Yeah, that’s what I want! Some kid watching what I buy on eBay for advertising purposes. Kiss my right cheek, Facebook.

Anyway, thanks to Nathan at CompassionInPolitics we have handy instructions for how to block Facebook Beacon on Firefox. (As one would expect from Microsoft, it is currently impossible to block Facebook on IE. No word on Safari, which is disappointing as well.)

Other bloggers talking about Beacon:
Rex Hammock
Jack Lail
lcreekmo