Summary: Featuring guests Graham Perry Social Curator of Tennessee State Museum and Karl Frish of Media Matters for America.

Part 1: No Scrimmage: Healthcare on the One-Yard Line. President Obama’s latest weekly radio address, a recap of the most super of bowls, the year of the underdog continues…from 2008, the Tea Party seen through rose-colored glasses, our interview with Graham Perry, curator of the We Shall Not Be Moved: The 50th Anniversary of Tennessee’s Civil Rights Sit-ins at the Tennessee State Museum, and the work continues for affordable health care for all. [24.44MB download mp3][audio:http://www.liberadio.com/audio/liberadio20100208part1.mp3]

Part 2: No Scrimmage: Healthcare on the One-Yard Line Guess what? Jobs bills are important for the states! A couple of callers try and scold us for using the term “tea bagger” to describe the racist funny-hat-wearing xenophobes personified by Tom Tancredo at this past weekend’s Tea Party Convention, and Karl Frisch, Senior Fellow for media watchdog organization, Media Matters for America brings it to the lapdog mainstream media…and Sarah Palin too. [23.7MB download mp3]
[audio:http://www.liberadio.com/audio/liberadio20100208part2.mp3]

We do admire his restraint in using only one explanation point, but the politicization of the death of a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress, and a 19 term Congressman? Not so much.

One of these is Speak to Power, an online progressive community for Tennesseans that will “spotlight the goals of the democratic party/progressive ideology and discuss news of the day with a spotlight on left-leaning bloggers.”

Best part? Open and diverse discussions are encouraged and to participate you have to stand behind any comments you make.

From what I understand, the focus of Speak to Power will West Tennessee, but I predict it won’t be long until the entire state gets into the act. And this is the exact kind of unity – and hope – we need right now.

Live TV : Ustream

Some people have been saying that we live in one. As somebody that spent many years of his life scared to death of living under one, I figure I’ll share some of my memories.

So what does it mean to live in a totalitarian country?

It is to be very afraid of the police, because we have seen them arresting and beating up people randomly, for no other reason than they can.

It is to see the military treating you like the enemy all the time; i.e. by wantonly pointing their guns at you for no reason.

It is because you know that every paper, radio station or TV station is now controlled by the regime and only prints propaganda.

It is to be afraid of the teachers in your school because they carry guns and work for the regime, and because the principal was replaced by a regime guy who is not interested in education.

Go read the rest, including BeninTN’s insightful commentary:

It’s not “Marxist” to recognize that monied special interests and corporate lobbyists are influencing too much of our policy-making and undermining progress in America. It’s not Marxist to recognize the simple fact that America spends 16% of its GDP on healthcare, while the next highest percentage for any industrialized nation is just over 11%. It’s not Marxist to recognize that this status quo is unacceptable and unsustainable. And one thing has become clear in this process – the supporters of the status quo stand to profit handsomely from the failure of comprehensive healthcare reform. With $2.4 trillion spent annually in healthcare in the U.S., and roughly a third of that being spent wastefully (assuming we could cut from 16% to around 10% of GDP and match the other industrialized nations in terms of GDP percentages), that means that we’ve got about $800 billion of excess spending. Someone is profiting from that $800 billion, and they don’t want to let it go.

Go vote for Tennessee’s Most Valuable Birther. You have 5 state reps, 1 Congressman, and a Lt. Governor to choose from.

Here’s what we are doing: We are working hard to lay the groundwork for a broad-based permanent collaboration between progressive issue organizations, think tanks, advocacy groups, faith organizations, labor unions, social clubs, business and trade associations, loose coalitions of like-minded citizens, bloggers, and any others want to work towards building a better future for all Tennesseans.

The work we are doing is non-partisan and exists completely outside the Tennessee Democratic Party (TNDP) – but not because, as made up speculated in PITH, we have “turned against” or have become “disillusioned” with Chip Forrester (current Chairman of the TNDP).

Pure fiction.

All Tennessee Democrats, including everyone at the TNDP headquarters, are working long hours and each are doing the work of at least three people. I have so much respect for them.

The difference between what we are trying to do and what the TNDP does is partisanship – plain and simple. Their work is partisan – ours is not.

Nor are we doing what we’re doing because we are “thoroughly convinced that Tennessee is filled with throngs of Rachel-Maddow-loving lefties.”

More fiction.

Our work is not about left or right – it’s about leading with the issues that unite us – not what divides us – and there are so many that do. Doesn’t someone who is socially conservative want clean drinking water for their children? And doesn’t someone who is socially liberal want the much-needed repairs to local infrastructure that will not only allow for commerce to continue uninterrupted in their community but bring jobs to that community as well? And doesn’t everyone want a good job with a fair wage that will enable them to take care of their family? Doesn’t everyone want to be able to afford to send their kid to college?

What we are doing is far removed from the culture wars exaggerated and manipulated by partisan politics – including Pith’s stable of smug anonymous insiders – which is probably why they feel the need to drag it through the mud.

So at what point should Lt. Governor Ramsey stand up to the “Old Guard” and risk pissing them off? Probably about the time they start ’roundin’ the bend into fringe town.

Southern Beale writes today what Mr. Ramsey should have said:

Maclin Davis, you scare the crap out of me. You’re one of the leading attorneys in this city, a leading figure with the state Republican Party, and you’ve embraced a fringe idea like birtherism to the point where you are calling for state legislators to enact actual legislation? And lawsuits?

More from Politico and Salon.

“There was apparently a headline after the Massachusetts election. The Village Voice announced that Republicans win a 41-59 majority. It’s worth thinking about. We still have to lead.”

and

“I have little patience for the kinds of political calculations that says the benefit of blocking everything is greater than the cost of doing nothing. That basically says if you lose, I win.”

and

“If anybody’s searching for a lesson from Massachusetts, I promise you, the answer is not to do nothing.”

H/T: TPM Livewire.

Note to Mr. Ford: If you want “to expand the definition of ‘pro-life’ to apply to other issues, such as [education and] health care and veterans’ benefits,” stop using the term “pro-life.” It’s their language not ours. It will never be ours and can only be defined by the definition they have chosen for it. Create your own language to say what you mean to encompass the important issues you cite and then repeat the heck out of it to make it stick.

Also, the next time someone confronts you on marriage equality try, “I don’t think churches should have to marry two men or two women if they don’t want to.”

T/F/B: Kleinheider

Updated: Apparently CQ Politics’ Taegan Goddard has never hear of the “Colbert Bump.” The election is a long way off and more New Yorkers know who Harold Ford is now than did a month ago. Why wouldn’t he go on The Report?