This morning, the Tennessee State Senate State and Local Government Committee met to discuss a bill that would require a voter “to present qualified photographic identification before voting” (SB0150). During the discussion, Senator Joe Haynes (D-Nashville) made an impassioned plea to the bill’s sponsor, Senator Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), to delay the bill for further study…

Senator Haynes: Senator Ketron, I know that what you’re doing is well-meaning, and I respect that. But this is something that bothers me greatly because there are people in the world that don’t have driver’s license, don’t have photo ID. There are people in the world who are 65 and older that have a driver’s license without a photo ID on it. There’s a class of peple who are not indigent but yet don’t have a photo ID. And to those people, your bill excludes them from voting in our state. I consider that enough of a problem that I would challenge you..and we do this a lot when we see there are legitimate questions that we have….we try and take public testimony and we try to study it. There’s not another election until next next year. I don’t see what harm would be done if we took some public testimony. And we studied this to try an see what we could do to improve it and work on it and come back next year and try to adopt a system that’s workable. I think you’ve done a good job of trying to patch this up and I respect you for it..but I’m greatly concerned about people that fall in the categories I just described…because what you are doing is either 1) you’re forcing somebody to lie that says in their affidavit of identity that they have a relgiosu objection or that they are indigent and nobody is going to go out and check if they are indiegent there not going to be any system for that – that would be so burdensome that there would be no way to work it out of an election commission office…I’m going to ask you if you would consider putting this in a study committee so we could look at this properly…would you consider that, Senator Ketron?

Senator Bill Ketron says, “Thanks, but no thanks”:

Sentor Ketron: *Big sigh* No, Senator Haynes, I won’t. You know, in 2007, the full Senate passed this and in 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled – it was upheld in Marion Country v. Indiana – that it is constitutional..currently there are seven states that require photo IDs…all of those require photo ID. We have seven different opportunities – Tennessee driver’s license photo ID issued by Tennessee and other states in the U.S., photo ID issued by the Tennessee Department of Safety, a U.S. passport, employee ID issued by Tennessee…U.S. military ID. In 2013 the Real ID act goes into effect and my attempt here is to protect and purify the ballot. That is one of the only things we have in this country today is the ability to vote and that can’t be taken away from you unless you go to prison. So, um, I feel very strongly about that for any person who cheats and votes a convicted felon or a dead person and takes away the right of me or you or anyone else who votes you have been disenfranchised by that person voting…so that’s my purpose of bringing the bill.

Senator Haynes: You are taking away a certain class of people’s right to vote when you pass this legislation. Until everybody has an ID, required either by this bill or some bill or some national legislation you gonna find people that are going to be excluded from voting because they don’t have a voter [photo] ID…and I think that flies in the face of what you just said, Senator Ketron, that is that you don’t want to take away anybody’s right to vote…

Senator Haynes attempts to salvage his own franchise, and with it, our participatory democracy:

Senator Mike Faulk (R-Kingsport): I’ve heard comments between…there are large numbers of people vs. there are some people that fall into the category that Senator Haynes describes, that is, over 65, not indigent, but no photo ID. I feel like we’re speculating and guessing does anyone know, do we have any information, any statistical data on how many folks fall into that category.

Senator Haynes: Senator Faulk in response to that, if it’s one person, it’s one person too many. If it’s one person, it’s one person too many. And if you want to come over and check my driver’s license, I happen to be 65 or older – I know I probably don’t look it…you’re out of order – but I don’t have a photo ID. I don’t have a photo on my driver’s license. because I was in a hurry that day and I knew I didn’t have to have a photo and I didn’t get one and I checked that..and got it without one. So, if I go in I can’t get a photo ID. I’d have to go back and reapply for my driver’s license. So you’re going to force everyone to get a photo ID.

An exchange between Senator Thelma Harper (D-Nashville) and election coordinator Mark Goins addresses the process for notification of voters of the new system. Mr. Goins said they would do everything they could to get the word out. For free – since doing it any other way would add another fiscal note. And I’m sure they will. Except when, you know, they don’t.

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When we last left SB0150, Senator Bill Ketron’s (R-Murfreesboro) voter Photo ID bill, it had passed out the the Senate State and Local Government Committee, gone in and out of the Finance Committee (to address and subsequently remove a fiscal note), and landed back in the State and Local.

Although Senator Joe Haynes, Senator Thelma Harper, and Senator Lowe Finney fought the good fight today – pointing out the circular logic, inevitable voter frustration, and potential for disenfranchisement inherent in the bill – it passed out of committee in a straight party-line vote (6-3).

The fiscal note, which was removed, was to allow for free ID’s for those who could not afford them. Removal of the note was based on a workaround that will allow these citizens to sign a sworn affidavit of indigency (or an affidavit of religious exemption) which would excuse them from the photo ID requirement.

But if it’s enough for some to simply sign a sworn statement for their votes to count without having to show a photo ID, then why isn’t is OK for the rest of us? Aren’t we setting up an unequal system? “All you can do is trust what they say,” Senator Ketron says. Right now, everyone who registers to vote must sign a sworn statement that says we are who we say we are. So, if it’s enough for the “indigent” and the “religiously exempt,” then why isn’t it enough for the rest of us?

And what would prevent someone from avoiding the photo ID requirement by signing an affidavit of indigency or religious exemption in someone else’s name and then voting? Right now, it’s the same thing that prevents the rest of us from doing it, a sworn statement and the potential of prosecution fro voter fraud.

There is also a group if people who, as Senator Haynes pointed out, are not indigent, require no religious exemption, but do not have a photo ID. According to Mark Goins, Election Coordinator for the state, these registered voters would be allowed to vote absentee because if you vote absentee you don’t need a photo ID.

In addition to being yet another provision that renders the system unequal, it’s also not true since all voters who want to vote absentee need to vote in person the first time with – you guessed it – a photo ID.

No photo ID –> Vote Absentee! –> But you must vote in person the first time with a photo ID! –> No Photo ID!

Senator Ketron claims he introduced the bill to “protect and purify” the ballot. And it will do just that – but not in the American “this is a democracy and we should be removing barriers to voting instead of creating them” kind of way.

As Senator Haynes said, we already have laws in place to punish those who commit voter fraud. Why do we need to erect additional barriers. Especially, I would add, when the incidences of voter fraud cases is virtually non-existent?

And if this law disenfranchises one person, then that is one person too many.

Another exchange between Senator Harper and Mark Goins addressed the system for notification of voters of the new system – especially the elderly. Mr. Goins said they would do everything they could to get the word out. For free – since doing it any other way would add another fiscal note. And I’m sure they will – except when they don’t.

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Three anti-choice bills will be heard tomorrow, Tuesday, 3/31/09 at 4:00 pm, in the Tennessee State House House Public Health & Family Assistance Subcommittee: HJR 0066 (Rep. Debra Maggart, R-Hendersonville), HJR 0088 (Rep. Charles Curtiss, D-Sparta), and HJR 0127 (Rep. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown).

Because the big yellow buttons have already been made (and Rep. Curtiss is a Democrat), I’m going to go out on a limb and say that HJR 0127 is the one that will, unfortunately, make it out of committee tomorrow.

As previously discussed, these resolutions are the first step toward amending the Tennessee State Constitution to take away the limited privacy protections women still have to control their own reproductive health. If the State Constitution is successfully amended, and Roe v. Wade overturned, women here would no longer have the constitutionally protected right to privacy.

Even worse is that all three of the bills state that “the people retain the right through their elected state representatives and state senators to enact, amend, or repeal statutes regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother.” In other words, if the Constitution is amended in the way in which these three legislators hope, then the decision as to what would be best for the 9-year-old girl carrying twins that are the result of being raped by her stepfather, would be solely in their hands. And so would the decision of the Tennessee mother (who wrote an open letter to Rep. Maggart) with a daughter diagnosed in utero with a fatal chromosomal disorder, a cystic hygroma, a clubbed foot, very little brain matter, and kidney malformations, and who wasn’t expected to live any longer than the gestation period – or less.

And if you saw this afternoon’s discussion of a certain gun bill, your only reaction to this should be, oh s**t.

In other news, Did you know that although Tennessee is ranked 20th in providing family planning public funding (publicly supported contraceptive services and supplies), we’re ranked 42nd in family planning laws and policies (whether laws and policies are likely to facilitate access to contraceptive services and information), 30th in family planning service availability (how well states meet existing need for subsidized contraceptive services and supplies), and 40th in births to teen mothers ages 15-19.

If the members of the Tennessee legislature wanted real solutions, they would do two things. First, they’d be honest and admit that there are already a number of Tennessee laws which regulate abortion – including parental consent, a ban on late-term abortions and patient informed consent. Then, they would focus on researching and providing the most effective education and resources that would actually, you know, reduce – or completely eliminate – unintended pregnancies.

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Seriously worth the click to embiggen.

Seriously worth the click to embiggen.

This Tomorrow morning at 8:30 am, the Senate State & Local Government Committee will hear SB150 by Senator Bill Ketron (the companion bill is HB0639 by Rep. Debra Maggart) which would require voter to show “qualified photographic identification” before being allowed to vote.

When last we left our bill, Senator Lowe Finney’s (D-Jackson, the Fightin’ 27th!) asked the sponsor, Senator Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), if there had “been any other instances of ‘voter fraud’ in the state of Tennessee?” Senator Ketron said he would get back to him on that. Tune in tomorrow morning for the thrilling conclusion!

While on the surface this bill may seem like a good idea, it is really a solution in search of a problem and will actually do more to disenfranchise voters than maintain the integrity of our elections.

Photo ID laws are the modern day equivalent of a poll tax – The expenses involved in obtaining a photo ID card will prevent some individuals from voting. While the bills include language to allow individuals to file paupers’ oaths and accompanying affidavits of indigency to waive costs, it could be uncomfortable and even humiliating to request the waiver. In addition, it is unclear how the information about the exemption will be shared and it is more likely that individuals will not go to the polls because they do not have a photo ID card.

There is no credible evidence that photo ID laws prevent fraud – The Brennan Center of Justice has studied the issue of voter fraud extensively and have concluded that someone is more likely to be hit by lightning than commit voter fraud. They also analyzed the more than 250 claims of fraud in the Supreme Court’s photo ID case and found that there was “not one proven case of a fraudulent vote that the challenged law could prevent.”

Restrictive photo ID cards disenfranchise legitimate voters – Bills like these have the potential of disenfranchise between 13 and 22 million people in the United States who do not have a photo id. A disproportionately large number of these are minorities, seniors and limited-income and disabled persons. Examples of disenfranchisement of the elderly, and poor, elderly nuns in other states who have these laws is well documented.

We should be making it easier, not harder, for people to vote – Nothing is more fundamental to our democracy than the right to vote. But bills like this one restrict, not increase, access to the voting booth. So, don’t be a voter hater. Rather than preventing Tennesseans from voting, why not ensure that every eligible voter is allowed to vote, and that every vote counts?

Please email the members of the Senate State & Local Government Committee ASAP and urge them to oppose SB150: Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro, the fightin’ 13th), Chair, Lowe Finney (D-Jackson), Vice Chair, Joe Haynes (D-Goodlettsville), Secretary, Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville), Mike Faulk (R-Church Hill), Thelma Harper (D-Nashville), Mark Norris (R-Collierville), Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville), Ken Yager (R-Harriman).

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Taking the Rush Challenge (Not At All Refreshing)

Serr8D over at TennesseeFree jumps on the Andrew Klavan LA Times article bandwagon and accuses liberals who have a healthy disdain for Rush Limbaugh of not listening to his show:

Liberals who hate Rush Limbaugh – why don’t you actually listen to his show before bashing him?

If you are reading this newspaper, the likelihood is that you agree with the Obama administration’s recent attacks on conservative radio talker Rush Limbaugh. That’s the likelihood; here’s the certainty: You’ve never listened to Rush Limbaugh.

Oh no, you haven’t. [Oh yes, we have.] Whenever I interrupt a liberal’s anti-Limbaugh rant to point out that the ranter has never actually listened to the man, he always says the same thing: “I’ve heard him!”

Serr8D agrees. Liberals don’t listen directly to the harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, he writes, rather what we’ve likely heard “is the snarling spittle-flecked responses from Rush’s detractors…and similar left-wingers who’ve taken their talking points from media voices…and the latest lefty darling, that bimbo Meghan McCain.”

[By the way, I'm sure Serr8D is aware of the hypocrisy of his excoriating "Libruls" for not being tolerant of a wide range of views while labeling someone he disagrees with a "bimbo," i.e. "an attractive but stupid young woman, esp. one with loose morals." Or maybe not...]

Doing his part to keep the world safe for those who are “having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have,” Klavan writes that what we do is typically take a “Rushian piece of outrageous hilarity completely out of context” to feed our “Liberal Outrage.” Stop me if you’ve heard this one before – Rush is just an entertainer! “Outrageous hilarity? Gag. Ack. Barf.

To answer Klavan, who apparently listens to Limbaugh “every chance I get, and I have never heard the man utter a single racist, hateful or stupid word,” here are just a few of his most outrageous pieces of “hilarity” (which I’m sure I’m just taking out of context).

Racist

“Hey, Barack Obama has picked up another endorsement: Halfrican American actress Halle Berry. “As a Halfrican American, I am honored to have Ms. Berry’s support, as well as the support of other Halfrican Americans,” Obama said. He didn’t say it, but — anyway, there are those out there — greetings.” –Rush Limbaugh [1/24/07]

“I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.” –Rush Limbaugh (101 People who are REALLY Screwing Up America (2006) by Jack Huberman)

“Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.” –“Hey Rush, when it comes to sports … shhh!” by Mike Freeman at CBS SportsLine (1/27/07)

Hateful

“Now, this is Michael J. Fox. He’s got Parkinson’s disease. And in this commercial, he is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He is moving all around and shaking. And it’s purely an act. This is the only time I have ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has. I know he’s got it and he’s raising money for it, but when I’ve seen him in public, I’ve never seen him betray any of the symptoms. But this commercial, he — he’s just all over the place. He can barely control himself. He can control himself enough to stay in the frame of the picture, and he can control himself enough to keep his eyes right on the lens, the teleprompter. But his head and shoulders are moving all over the place, and he is acting like his disease is deteriorating because Jim Talent opposes research that would help him, Michael J. Fox, get cured.” –Rush Limbaugh

A French journalist has been kidnapped in Iraq, but I don’t believe it. I think the guy surrendered. –Rush Limbaugh [4/13/04]

“You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed assassin of Martin Luther King]. We miss you, James. Godspeed. –Rush Limbaugh (101 People who are REALLY Screwing Up America (2006) by Jack Huberman)

Stupid

“Too many whites are getting away with drug use…Too many whites are getting away with drug sales…The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too.” –Rush Limbaugh

“You know I have always tried to be honest with you and open about my life, so I need to tell you that part of what you have heard and read is correct. I am addicted to prescription pain medication.” –Rush Limbaugh

“A little interesting story, folks, this out of Boston. [Reading from AP story] “The new police chiefs in four of the nation’s largest cities — Boston, San Francisco, Milwaukee and Detroit — share some credentials. All boast more than two decades of [cop] experience. All have worked their way up the ranks. And all are women.” [Gasping.] Yes, my friends. Some say it’s just coincidence that four women within six months have been named to the top [cop] position in four major cities, a natural evolution two decades after consent decrees and affirmative action cases forced departments to hire more women…Women still make up an average of only 13 percent of police officers…” They’re never happy. And I don’t mean women. I’m talking about the activists. Don’t lose your cookies out there. This is according to the National Center for Women and Policing, which is a division of the Feminist Majority Foundation of American, which is the feminazis. So here we’ve got progress. This is exactly what I’m talking about. Here we’ve got four new police chiefs are women, again, San Francisco, Boston, Milwaukee, Detroit, and the feminazis find the bad news. “Well, there’s still only 13% of women on the forces of the general police population, so…” This is exactly what I’m talking about. So what’s the reaction to this? Well, here’s my reaction, in the typical Rush fashion: If we’ve got four new female police chiefs out there, then I guess we can watch out for some naked pyramids among prisoners in these new jailhouses that these women ran, because we had a woman running the prison in Abu [Algore pronunciation] Grab. That’s how you do it.” –Rush Limbaugh [4/27/04]

An Outrageous “Entertainer”

“The difference between Los Angeles and yogurt is that yogurt comes with less fruit.” –Rush Limbaugh

“Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?” –Rush Limbaugh (File this one under “racist,” too).

Sexist

“I think a lot of the American culture is being feminized. I think the reaction to the stupid torture is an example of the feminization of this country.” –Rush Limbaugh [4/06/04]

Some of these babes, I’m telling you, like the sexual harassment crowd. They’re out there protesting what they actually wish would happen to them sometimes. –Rush Limbaugh [4/26/04]

Today’s morning update, for those of you who missed it, let me share it with you. Angry Democrats and radical femi-Nazis are demanding an apology from Karen Hughes, presidential adviser, over some remarks that she made on CNN. Now, since very few people watch CNN any more, let me tell you what she said. While the femi-Nazis’ pro-abortion march was taking place in Washington on Sunday, Karen Hughes, on CNN, was asked how the issue of abortion would play in the elections. –Rush Limbaugh [4/29/04]

“You know, the feminazis forgot one thing. Well, one of the objectives of the feminazis over the last 20, 25 years has been to dominate the public education system so as to remove the competitive nature of boys. You know, there’s a crisis of young man-boy education in the schools. And they did this on purpose, to eliminate male competition in the work force. This is part of feminazi grand plan. They forgot affirmative action for black guys. And because of that, every bit of their plan has gone up in smoke now, because they — if — they had to come out in favor of affirmative action for black guys, and that’s — see, this is one of the things that really irritates the women. And there are women all over this country fit to be tied — trust me on this. And it’s — one of the things is affirmative action is exactly — it’s, you know, liberals eventually are going to be devoured by their own policies. And it has happened here. Because Barack Obama is an affirmative action candidate. There’s no question, the way he is being treated by the drive-bys and so forth and so on. The way he’s been puffed up here with the magical, messiah-type message with no criticism allowed. So, it’s just — they just forgot that one thing: affirmative action for black guys. And if they had remembered to oppose that, then they wouldn’t face the situation they face today.” –Rush Limbaugh [5/27/08]

Bonus*

Remember the time he said that service members who wanted the U.S. to withdraw from Iraq were “phony soldiers,” and then he edited the audio from his show to make it sound like he didn’t say that? Good times.

And when he mistakenly used an essay by a 10th grader to attack then-candidate Barack Obama? Ah, karma.

I need a shower.

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For months, Metro Councilman at Large Jerry Maynard has been asking a very pertinent question – why can’t we harness the same power that defeated English Only in Nashville to improve our health care and education systems? To that end, Maynard is spreading the word about a press conference, community rally, information session, and call to action for Metro General Hospital that is being held tomorrow evening at 5:00 PM at Watson Grove Baptist Church.

Reverend Henry Blaze of Progressive Baptist Church, Reverend Judi Hoffman of Edgehill United Methodist Church, Freda Player of Change that Works Tennessee, along with the support of more than 50 Nashville clergy, will gather and address the looming financial crisis that faces the hospital and threatens the delivery of critical services to the uninsured, the education of more than 700 Meharry Medical College students, and more than 700 jobs. Their aim is to rally citizens and community, business, civic, and health care leaders to stand together in their support of the mission of the hospital – to provide an accredited, full service, public safety net hospital for all people regardless of their ability to pay.

WHEN: Press conference, Tuesday, March 31, 2009, at 5:00 p.m.; Community Rally will follow at 5:30 p.m.

WHERE: Watson Grove Baptist Church, 1415 Horton Avenue, Nashville, 37203 (Parking next to church)

“Health care is a moral imperative, essential to preserving and protecting human dignity. As more Nashville residents become uninsured, General Hospital’s role as a safety-net hospital is increasingly important,” said Reverend Blaze. “This vital safety-net is threatened because of budget problems at both the local and state level. We need federal help to get through this crisis.”

He added, “The Metro General – Meharry Medical College partnership is a unique national health care resource that is deserving of federal financial support.”

In light of Mayor Dean’s request for 10% budget cuts across the board for government departments, Nashville General, which serves more than 30% of the uninsured patients in Nashville, may be in real trouble. Take the opportunity to come out tomorrow and find out why.

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Weirdly, I had a couple of conversations with people this weekend as to why working-class Americans often vote against their own economic self-interest. Answers can be found in Thomas Franks’ seminal work on the subject, “What’s the Matter with Kansas?,” and are especially relevant now with the economy in shambles:

Over the last thirty-five years the Republicans have transformed themselves from an aristocratic minority into the nation’s dominant political party, a brawling, beer-drinking buddy of the working man. The strategy by which they have won this triumph is instantly familiar and yet so bizarre it’s sometimes hard to believe it’s actually happened…

And then think of the political changes that this sappy stuff has helped to sell: Privatization. Deregulation. Monopolies in every industry from banking to radio to meatpacking. The destruction of the welfare state. The beatdown of the labor movement. The transformation of the Midwest into the rust belt. And, shimmering in the heavens above all this, the rise of a new plutocracy, a class of overlords so taken with their own magnificence that they are moved to compare themselves to the Almighty.

What we are observing, then, is a populist movement that has done irreversible harm to the material interests of the common people it professes to love so tenderly-a form of class animosity that rages against a shadowy “elite” while enthroning a new aristocracy of bankers, brokers, and corporate thieves.

What Franks doesn’t address is why those who vote against their own economic self-interest allow themselves to be insulted by their own kind (conservatives, not working-class) while doing it. This excerpt from Neal Boortz’s radio show is jaw-droppingly offensive to all Americans struggling to find work, feed their families, keep healthy, etc.

Boortz: “You know why these people would be thrilled to be making $75,000 a year without a bonus? I didn’t have to write notes about this…Number one, they by god don’t want to work more than 40 hours a week…so they would be thrilled to make $75,000 a year without having to work more than 8 hours a day. They’re not educated. The ones he’s talking about who would be thrilled to make $75,000 a year these are people who are educated maybe high school graduates, certainly no further. These are people who don’t strive or dream of having their own business. These are people who are content to work for somebody else. And at 5 o’clock in the afternoon they can slam that 8 track into their car and Jonny Paycheck can start singing “Take this job and shove it” and they can drive off to the 7-11, get a six-pack of beer, go home, put their feet on the coffee table, order a damned pizza, drink the beer and watch Entertainment Tonight on TV. And yeah, they would be thrilled to be making $75,000 a year. But they won’t work hard enough to do it. They didn’t want to get the education that is necessary to do it. They don’t want to make the decisions that are necessary to do that. They want to work 40 hours a day, er, a week. They want to get by on their high school education. They want their case of beer every weekend. They want their Entertainment Tonight. They want a subscription to People Magazine. They want a video game and a cell phone. And every once in a while they will Amor All the wheels on their house. And they would be thrilled to be making $75,000 a year.”

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Just Say 'Nyerhe!' to Bill Hobbs.

Just Say 'Nyerhe!' to Bill Hobbs.

World Wildlife Fund is asking individuals, businesses, governments and organizations around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour – on Saturday, March 28, 8:30 PM, to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions.

When we had Lee Poston, Director of Conservation and Science Communications at WWF, on the show on Monday, we asked him how he dealt with the people who would rather poke fun at the idea of Earth Hour, i.e. the “We’re gonna re-light the Christmas lights and turn up the oven full blast after running the dishwasher empty” crowd. Lee, who is fond of taking the high-road, said he sees it as an opportunity to have a conversation. (We say, just slap a corset on it!)

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This year, Nashville is a key Earth Hour city and Mayor Karl Dean, along with other community leaders, businesses, music industry professionals, and schools, are banding together us to turn off our lights for one hour and have that conversation.

So, tomorrow night, Mayor Dean will be joined by World Wildlife Fund officials, Nashville Earth Hour 2009 celebrity spokeswoman and award-winning, multi-platinum recording artist Jo Dee Messina, and other Nashville leaders to officially turn off the lights in Nashville!

What: Mayor Dean’s lights-out event, including live performance by Jo Dee Messina (Free and open to the public)

When: Saturday, March 28
7:30 p.m. – Lights-out event begins
8:29 p.m. – Mayor Dean and Jo Dee Messina count down to Earth Hour
8:30 p.m. – Official “switch-off”

Where: Sommet Center Plaza, corner of Broadway and Fifth Avenue North

Plenty o’ other stuff happening tomorrow as well.

Some of the city’s most recognizable structures and businesses will go dark, including The Parthenon, Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, AT&T Building, L&C Tower, State Capitol, Union Station Hotel, All Ingram companies (U.S., Canada, and the U.K.), Metro Courthouse, The CMT billboard at the West End/Broadway split, Caterpillar Financial Center, Nashville Songwriters Association International, CMT, Loveless Café, LP Field, Bluebird Café, Adventure Science Center, Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge.

It’ll also be lights out on historic Lower Broadway and Second Avenue for both the honky and the tonky: Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, Wildhorse Saloon, Hard Rock Café, The Stage on Broadway, Jack’s Bar-B-Que, Legends Corner, Robert’s Western World, Ernest Tubb Record Shop, Layla’s Bluegrass Inn.

Universities, schools and churches across will also flip the switch: Vanderbilt University, Belmont University, Lipscomb University, Nashville State Community College, Nossi College of Art, Croft Middle Design Center, Bellevue Middle School, Inglewood Elementary School, J.T. Moore Middle School, The Harpeth Hall School, Montgomery Bell Academy, University School of Nashville, First Baptist Nashville, Holy Trinity Community Church, Cathedral of the Incarnation.

Follow Earth Hour US on the Twitter.

See you somewhere in the dark…BOO!

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Ouch.

Ouch.

That’s right, I said a corset. Because while the rest of us move into the 21st Century, Bill Hobbs, press flack for the Tennessee Republican Party is still living in 1909.

What else could explain his lambasting of “Earth Hour” as “the latest environmental wacko campaign?”

Bill says:

On average, life expectancy from birth for the average American has increased 120 days every single year since 1870. The American life expectancy has skyrocketed from 47 years in 1900 to 78.1 years in 2006. One of the contributors to rising life expectancy: refrigeration, made possible by electricity. Energy usage also makes possible better housing, better healthcare, safer transportation, etc.

As author Indur M. Goklany noted in his book, The Improving State of the World: Why We’re Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet (Amazon: $15.56), our increase in life expectancy in the 20th Century was very much related to America’s rising prosperity, which itself was fueled in large part by coal and fossil fuel consumption, including burning coal to generate electricity.

Typically conservative mindset – what was good for us in the early 1900s must be good for us now. Stop! Don’t change a thing! Because you must admit, child labor does keep the kiddies off the street. And women, you’re so over your voting rights anyway, right? Not to mention your career and your ability to own property. Jim Crow got it right, building codes and food safety laws are a bunch of hooey, and hey, who needs that radio you people are so fond of?

Bill thinks that it’s a sad irony that “liberals of the early 1900s pushed such programs as rural electrification and the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority to improve the lives and economc prospects of millions of Americans…but today’s liberals are urging people to turn off the lights and turn their back on prosperity.”

The real sadness lies in Bill’s backwards thinking. As much as conservatives would relish the chance to revisit 1909, we can’t go back. The world is in a constant state of change and the decisions we make to address these changes should be based on current scientific information and what’s best for us now, not on what was best for us 100 years ago.

So we joyfully move ahead with tomorrow’s “Earth Hour,” because its very existence defines what we do: advocate for better conditions for everyone – not just a select few.

UPDATE: Bill is not alone in his arrested development. Hiya, Krummy!

UPDATE II: Who’s the most anti-environmental state legislator? A member of the TNGOP, of course!

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Last week, Liberadio(!) debuted “Thirsty Third Thursdays,” where on the third Thursday of every month we join Drinking Liberally for a night of fun (i.e. beer and rabblerousing) at The Flying Saucer.

This week we’re debuting “Foodie Fourth Fridays,” where on the fourth Friday of every month we join the Davidson County Democratic Party and friends for lunch at the Second Harvest Food Bank’s First Harvest Cafe – where the food is delicious and every dollar benefits Second Harvest.

Today, March 27th, is the fourth Friday of the month, so please join us at 11:00 am at The Culinary Arts Center, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, 331 Great Circle Road in Metro Center, and help provide for families in need.

The menu tomorrow, appropriately enough for us beret-wearing, socialist surrender-monkeys, is “French Cruise:”

Spinach Salad Tossed with Purple Onions and Bacon (or Pinenuts), Spring Peas and Pearl Onions, Potatoes Anna, Chicken Fricassee, Roasted Leg of Spring New Zealand Lamb with a Mint Caper Sauce, and Homemade Éclairs.

Second Harvest’s mission is “to feed hungry people and work to solve hunger issues in our community.” For more information, visit their website at SecondHarvestNashville.org.

Hope to see you there!

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