Patrick Fitzgerald. Listen to his strong, clear voice, see his piercing blue eyes, and experience his manly whiff of integrity here. You can watch it all on “The Span.”
Hat tip: Crooks and Liars
On October 30, 2005,
in Uncategorized,
by Mary Mancini
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- Water9 February 2012, 4:29 am
Seeing this picture made me a little dizzy. When I lived in Aledo, my closest friend in the community was from Keithsburg. Her mom was the mayor. In ’93, she told me that the Corps went around and spraypainted lines on all the telephone poles, to warn people how high the water was going to [...]...
- Santorum Surges8 February 2012, 6:58 pm
I’m actually kind of intrigued by the Republican primary. I mean, yes, I’ve been alarmed, too, but mostly intrigued. It seems like Romney has been anointed the obvious front-runner almost from the get-go and the media stories have all been “And here’s where Romney’s lead becomes decisive and unassailable” only to have the decisive and [...]... - Isn’t This Kind of an Obvious Line to Draw?8 February 2012, 2:06 pm
I had a hard time finding a smart, general history of hypnotism along the same lines as the books on Spiritualism I’d read earlier in the Sue Allen project. But I’ve started Hypnotism: A History by Derek Forrest and it’s okay so far. It’s just that the lines between hypnotism and Spiritualism seem so obvious–go [...]... - Where are the Police Reports?7 February 2012, 6:46 pm
Over on Twitter, I see that the Republicans are accusing the Occupy Nashville people of having peed on staffers. Now, my patience is thin for the Occupy Nashville people, but really? Someone fucking peed on your staffer and you… what? Why am I hearing nothing about police reports? I mean, of course, I don’t believe [...]... - Tony’s Foodland Comes Through Again7 February 2012, 2:09 pm
Aside from being the only place in town I can consistently see penis graffiti and neo-Nazis shopping in the same aisles as middle-aged Melungeons, and being the only place that laughs at me when I forget a bag, but puts it in the ice chest so that it stays cool until I get back for [...]...
- Morning Coffee – Presenting Your New Republican Overlords – Pre-Legislative Session Edition28 December 2010, 3:53 pm
The upcoming session of the Tennessee General Assembly begins in just 15 days. Between now and then there will likely be a whole bunch of nothing news wise, except for the TNDP Chair election which is about as exciting as watching socks dry in the rain (no offense guys, but seriously). Considering the huge shift from a nearly 50-50 split house to the 64-34-1 Republican super-majority, there’s gonna be a lot of changes coming our way. As Jeff Woods reports in the Nashville City paper, they ... - Morning Coffee – Surrender? No Surrender? Edition20 December 2010, 3:39 pm
In this season of giving, I’ve decided that a current events version of “The Night Before Christmas” is in order. To that end, I offer the following… Twas the week before Christmas and all through the County, Leaders in the east were assessing their bounty, The Legislature won by the right wing with care, In hopes that a Special School District would be there. The schoolchildren enjoying their Christmas break, Awaiting decisions that deciders will make, And I at my comput... - Morning Coffee – Something in the Air Edition2 December 2010, 1:27 pm
I don’t really have a lot to say this morning. I think I said myself out yesterday. Speaking of yesterday, the “sense of the commission” resolution on consolidation passed 6-3-1. Two commissioners weren’t in attendance at the time of the vote. The matter comes up again on Monday. Send your Commissioner an email in support of the resolution. It’s been busy and that business isn’t gonna stop until after the 16th. Then it’s time for the “holiday busy&... - Morning Coffee – Sharpen Your Pitchforks Edition1 December 2010, 1:15 pm
Yeah, I know. You probably thought the pitchfork sharpening season ended with the November 2nd elections. I don’t think you could have been more wrong. We live in a 24/7/365 pitchfork readiness environment now and that’s not going to change until people start feeling more certain about their economic futures. The harsh reality is that, in times like this, people can get Balkanized, in ways that may or may not be in their best interests depending on a whole host of factors, but usuall... - Morning Coffee – Post-Turkey Day Edition29 November 2010, 2:16 pm
Now that the holiday that officially sanctions gluttony is over, we can get down to really important things, like buying stuff for Christmas. Retailers are licking their chops as we speak. Black Friday and Cyber Monday will ultimately give way to “Whoopsie Wednesday” (12/22) and “I can’t find anything I want Friday” (12/24). As someone who used to co-own a retail establishment, I can tell you this is the time of year that I most dreaded and looked forward to. When t...
- Bills, Bills, Bills10 January 2012, 3:40 pm
At first we started out real cool,(cool) Writing some good laws i ain’t never seen But now your getting comfortable Ain’t telling that truth that you did no more Your slowly makin me read your print Your Bills they all are captioning And now you ask me for my vote (vote) Call me all day [...]... - Five Shopping Days Until Slut-O-Ween27 October 2011, 1:24 am
As I tend to warn people a lot: I was raised Mormon. You might not realize it, but Mormons have a dress code. It’s based on the standard of modesty set by wearing temple garments (those “magic Mormon underwear”), although pre-garment wearing youth are also encouraged to follow it as preparation for being endowed in [...]... - Going Postal10 September 2011, 5:06 pm
I love mail. Real mail, that is, the type made out of paper and delivered to your box by a uniformed, oath-sworn mail carrier. Even before I could explain why I loved mail, I loved it so much that in elementary school I volunteered for the job of collecting it from our box and sorting [...]... - Metro CANDO18 May 2011, 5:36 pm
The Rev. Steven S. Nelson seems to be under the misapprehension that the Metro non-discrimination ordinance dictates to private businesses what they can or cannot do. That’s not true. Private businesses in Tennessee will still be free to fire people for being homosexual or being suspected of being homosexual, according to the religious beliefs of [...]... - Blaming the Victims24 January 2011, 5:50 pm
Why would rape victims not want to pursue prosecution? As I once heard the Assistant DA explain to victim after victim, justice takes years, and often even the victims and prosecutors who do everything right don’t get justice at all. The investigation and trial will be consuming. You’ll have to give up work, you’ll have [...]...
- Original Poetry30 March 2011, 7:59 pm
Inauguration Dayby maria BrewerStretching dreams Pop into realityand breathe deep. The air of now.Grunting, emerging, we blink.Anticipating beauty in the new expectation of fresh wisdom.Layers of caring, and percolating joy, anddeep strength surge and weRush forward to meet the calm:the sprout that pushes through the soil,the Beginning.... - Original Poetry30 March 2011, 1:30 am
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The American Dream is a noble ideal: equality and reward for hard work. Establishing values like fairness, independence, and empowerment, Americans have long sacrificed to better themselves. But in America, we have always dreamed of bringing along our communities: our palaces have been our public schools; our monuments not towering statues unless surrounded by broad public parks and playgrounds; our legacy is ensconced in public libraries, common thoroughfares, and rural electrification projects... - Take a Lunch with Democracy15 March 2011, 1:32 pm
Today is going to be Rally day on the steps of the Tennessee State House downtown. People are coming from all over Tennessee to be heard by their state legislators. And it's going to be live streamed at the website http://march15.info/What's the use of a rally? Well, haven't you heard? This is What Democracy Looks Like.... - Devastation comes in small packages as well...15 March 2011, 7:41 am
Since Friday's disaster in Japan began, we Americans have watched its unfolding. So far away, yet so close at hand; unimaginably vast disaster striking a society so much like our own. Many of the photos are of an unimaginable scale. The stuff of our civilization made wholly uncivil and unrecognizable.Unlike most of the pictures from Japan, this picture of baby and mother being checked for radiation holds a kind of devastation we can't see. I'm not a nuclear power fear-monger, but I am a realist....
- Register for TEP's Mardi Gras Gumbo and Bread Pudding Competition in Memphis25 January 2012, 12:04 pm
Tennessee Equality Project is proud to host its 4th Annual Mardi Gras Party on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012, which includes our second Gumbo Tasting Competition and a new Bread Pudding Contest. The ingredients of Gumbo are as diverse as the LGBT and allied community, and we celebrate this in Mardi Gras style! Participation was so enormous last year that we've moved the competition to a larger space at Spectrum Memphis. Funds raised from the competition will benefit TEP to advance and protect the equali... - I'm angry24 January 2012, 8:51 pm
I'm angry today.I'm agonizing over yet another suicide of a young gay teen in Tennessee. It's the second loss in as many months. Phillip died because he could not escape the endless bullying from his peers. He died because he lived in a world where being gay made him a target. He died scared, hopeless and alone. Will Batts is the Executive Director of the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center.I feel a rage building inside me. This is not the world we want for our kids. This is not... - TEP responds to tragedy in Gordonsville24 January 2012, 5:42 pm
As TEP leaders, members and supporters grieve the loss of Phillip Parker in Gordonsville, Tennessee Equality Project is taking steps to respond to the tragedy. Here's what we are doing:TEP joins the family and friends of Phillip Parker in grieving a senseless loss. TEP has contacted Smith County School Superintendent Roger Lewis and District Principals to advocate for more teacher training and revision of school anti-bullying policy. We are offering TEP Foundation's LGBT diversit... - Gordonsville student endured years of anti-gay bullying before ending his life23 January 2012, 1:27 pm
Late Friday night, Tennessee Equality Project began hearing reports that an 8th grader in Gordonsville in Smith County, Tennessee had completed suicide after enduring years of anti-gay bullying. Ironically, the news arrived as members of TEP's board attended the first Bully-Free Tennessee Conference in neighboring Putnam County with educators, parents and other safe school advocates.Local news confirmed on Saturday that Phillip Parker was the 8th grader who had ended his life.TEP Board members J... - What are the limits of natural human reproduction science?18 January 2012, 3:34 pm
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Even though I know I will disappointing millions of fans (like Oprah and the Soaps), I am suspending my blogging activities. Notice how serious and freaked out I look on my daily blog route, while those yoga blankets beckon behind me to open my chakras and forget the world-wide suicide I am witnessing on the [...]... - Trump…what else you got?27 April 2011, 1:38 pm
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“Fox News can confirm the President of the United States is a citizen of the United States”. Shep Smith (click for video) So, Trump, stick that info up there in your hair nest. Filed under: Uncategorized... - Palin’s SPED Plan25 April 2011, 6:24 pm
Despite Sarah Palin’s claims to the contrary, the main stream media has never seriously taken her on from any vantage point other than pop/political icon. The LA Times’ Meghan Daum’s friends wonder why the gloves have never come off with Palin. They demand she “admit the obvious”… …Palin’s rocket ride to political fame says less [...]...
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Politicians don't. via niemanwatchdog.org, Diane Ravitch Diane Ravitch poses a dozen piercing questions on education and school policy. Som... read more...... - TN Sec. of State claims no drama for first photo ID election8 February 2012, 6:41 pm
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Michael Cass done drummed him up a story on Nashville defense lawyer Jack Byrd's voting history as a Republican. Byrd is one of two challengers, along with Rachel Bell, hoping to debench the recently appointed Judge Mike Jameson. Byrd is running as a Democrat in the Democratic primary. His records show he's voted in four GOP primaries and two county primaries (of which Republicans rarely ever post candidates), but he's telling Cass that he is in fact of the Democratic persuasion. N... - The Catholic Vote7 February 2012, 6:34 pm
I've had MSNBC on this morning in the background and they keep coming back to the Obama Administration's decision to say that employees of religious affiliated are accorded the same health care protections as those in the secular workforce. The assumption is that, somehow, people who might normally vote for a pro-choice Democrat, a prospect which some in the Catholic leadership say will put your immortal soul in peril, will now rally around a Republican all because some Catholic affiliated... - If You Leave It, They Will Come7 February 2012, 6:33 pm
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"I've seen a lot of tough eras, a lot of downturns in my life, times where we didn't understand each other...it seems that we've lost our heart at times. The fog of division, discord and blame made it hard to see what lies ahead. But after those trials, we all rallied around what was right, and acted as one." -Clint Eastwood Whether intended or not, this is an implicit endorsement of President Obama who took a chance on America's industry when it needed it, while Republicans like Mitt R... - Haynes Is Out, Who's In The Bullpen?5 February 2012, 3:52 am
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The word blogger is an interesting one. People writing on platforms about what they want, be it about knitting, kittens with their heads stuck in bread or politics, the blogging world has changed the way media works to a certain degree. And unfortunately, we forget the countless unpaid hours that people with passion put in [...]... - The Clint Eastwood Commercial7 February 2012, 7:24 pm
It was an ad, you know. The one with Clint Eastwood where Americans weren’t called lazy. Where he talked about resilience and honor and rebuilding. I found myself with my mouth hanging wide-open and tears in my eyes because the things he said where the things my grandfather used to say all the time. I [...]... - Getting Past Guns, God And Gays Legislation4 February 2012, 5:17 pm
Well, as expected, our general assembly has gone into session and it’s back to Guns, Gods and Gays. The key is that there are some pretty decent bills out there but they are being drowned out in the infernal noise of the GOP throwing molotov cocktails into the media mainstream and owning the headlines. For [...]... - John ‘Glad’ Castellaw In The 8th?1 February 2012, 3:05 pm
As races gear up around the state and being that I am a District 8 native, I am curious on how this race will play out. Joe Lance has a round up at Tennessee Ticketon recent media coverage and there are a few names that have been thrown around on the GOP side but not [...]... - Knoxville Business Denies Senator Service30 January 2012, 1:23 pm
Last night information went viral very quickly about a restaurant in Knoxville that asked Sen. Stacey Campfield to leave their establishment. Owner Martha Boggs who owns the Bistro at the Bijou asked the controversial politician to leave to make the point that any discrimination of anyone is painful and she went as far as to [...]...
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Visit me at my new home at WordPress .... southernbeale.wordpress.com.Thanks!... - I Already Hate WordPress19 May 2011, 7:03 pm
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When I first read Felix Salmon’s “Ben Stein's Top 10 Lines About DSK” I thought these were humorous “summaries” of Steins’ column defending Dominique Strauss-Kahn.They were not. They were direct quotes. And oh my God. Without further ado:Was Riker's Island really the place to put him on the allegations of one human being? Hadn't he earned slightly better treatment than that? No, he has not. Justice wears a blindfold.If he is such a womanizer and violent guy with women, why didn't he ... - I’ll Take Things It Shouldn’t Take 30 Years To Do, Alex17 May 2011, 4:18 pm
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This week’s big story locally has been the fight between the State legislature and the City of Memphis over the Gray’s creek annexation area. The two biggest issues revolve around A) a city’s right to annex area to expand its borders, and B) the desires of the residents of that area to remain autonomous. There’s [...]... - Why Would Anyone Want to Teach in Tennessee?2 February 2012, 7:27 pm
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Dear TNDP, I’m not alone in saying it, but this is a problem. (That’s seven months, and many “Chip Forrester is Outraged on a Friday” pressers ago.) We know you know better. How about acting on it? Is…... - He’s So Excited! He’s So Scared!28 May 2010, 4:43 pm
I didn’t watch the Tea Party-hosted Republican gubernatorial debate, not only because I had other plans but because I figure such a thing would be as substantive as a pageant. While nobody emerged wearing a sash and tiara, ... - Just the Facts, Ma’am25 May 2010, 6:20 am
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Everyone’s favorite Aunt B. did a great job summing up the Liberal Blogger Afternoon on the Hill at Tiny Cat Pants and at Pith. She fails to mention, however, the great restraint both she and I exercised in…... - Sandbagging the MetroCenter Levee4 May 2010, 5:30 am
Approximately 200 Nashvillians sandbagged the levee at MetroCenter today – despite MNPD officers explicitly saying we were entering the neighborhood “at our own risk,” and that if the levee went out we’d likely go out with it – with some…...
