Part 1 – It’s all Fun and Games on Valentine’s Day Until Somebody Loses an Eye – This week’s Liberadio(!) “To Do” list – Stand For Schools Rally, The NAACP Centennial, Tennessee Equality Day on the Hill, and Charles Darwin’s Birthday – is supplemented by the Liberadio(!) “I Do” list. Don’t miss your chance to get hitched by John Arriola and the romantic County Clerk staff! Plus, one state Representative was for free and fair elections before he was against them, and a caller, who apparently just woke up out of an 8-year coma, accuses “liberals” of ignoring history. [36.9 MB 23:00 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090209part1.mp3)

Let’s Get it On – Marvin Gay
Love to Love You Baby – Donna Summer
Fever – Peggy Lee

Part 2 – Interview with Chip Forrester – Chip. The Chipster. Chipinator. He’s the newly minted chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party and he’s answering our questions about fundraising, reaching out to the old bulls, encouraging the grass roots, the 95-county strategy, welcoming new ideas, staffing decisions, the income tax, feeding the trolls, expanding the base, technology, and “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this but…”. [37.3 MB 23:15 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090209part2chipforrester.mp3)

Je T’Aime Moi Non Plus – Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin

Part 3 – Affairs of the State and Affairs of the Heart. And never the ‘twain shall meet – unless Senator Stanley’s adoption bill passes (SB0078), in which case he goes to heaven while Tennessee’s parentless children languish. Plus, more comments on blog commentors and the world famous Dave Cloud is back to assure us that he’s not the Marquis de Sade. [44.8 MB 27:57 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090209part3.mp3)

Can’t Get Enough of Your Love Baby – Barry White

Part 4 – Bumpers Ugly – Councilman Eric Crafton has some explaining to do – have all his fundraising sources been disclosed? – and some realizations to come to – dude, you have a constituency, you know. Plus, should public policy be guided by religious faith and what the hell is a small d democrant? [46.7MB 29:07 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090209part4.mp3)

Theone – Lambchop (Album: How I Quite Smoking)

Not anymore! Last week’s election showed that we should have more faith in our listeners, the power of the grass roots coalitions, well-reasoned debate, and civil dialogue.

It’s not just Eric Crafton’s English Only that was defeated on Thursday. The brand of name-calling alarmism practiced by the three mouthkateers (can Tom Negri, General Manager of Loews Vanderbilt Hotel, or Rev. Jim Lawson, civil rights icon, really be defined as “liberal-wackos”?) was also given the smackdown by facts, figures, and the intellectual optimism practiced by a wide coalition of business, community, and spiritual leaders.

At this point, Gill et. al. should be frightened. Although they would never admit it, they know their fearmongering has both limited appeal and a limited shelf-life. Which is why hanging on to it while the rest of the country strides ahead is bad for business. Those boys say that they are giving people what they want, but our show – which with only 2 hours a week on a non-commercial station and engaging, reasonable guests, helped to defeat a city-wide referendum – clearly shows that they are so not. These emperors have not a stitch on.

The arguments against the Fairness Doctrine or the viability of progressive talk radio are red herrings use to deflect what DelGiorno, et. al. are really afraid of – that in these times, the majority of people in Middle-Tennessee would rather do what we do – discuss how public policy, elections, and elected officials can best serve the people of Tennessee – rather than what they specialize in – fear-based and divisive bombast (cue tax! abortion! immigration! gun! discussions). And they have no earthly idea how to adapt.

Obviously, the good folks in Nashville didn’t ask for our opinion. We’d be remiss, however, not to say that we’ve been there and done that — and we didn’t like it. Dade County, as it was then known, enacted an English-only ordinance in 1980. It quickly became a source of endless legal headaches, heated community debate, political embarrassment and bureaucratic wrangling. Finally, it was repealed in 1993, to near-universal relief.

What can we expect if English Only passes? The same inertia that Miami experienced due to lawsuits and unending minutiae:

There were lawsuits and legal challenges from the federal government over issues such as bilingual ballots. Civil libertarians argued that linguistic restrictions violated the equal-protection clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

Mass-transit schedules were printed only in English. Doctors at the public hospital were forbidden to give Haitian mothers a brochure in Creole about caring for their infants. Bilingual signs at the zoo were permitted to remain, but when a new section opened up, the signs had to be English-only (until private funding was found).

Welcome newcomers, Miami urges us, because in their experience, “arrivals strengthen us, not make us weaker.”

Part 1 – 1 Day, 3 Hours, 52 minutes, and 12 Seconds – It truly is The Best Week Ever!â„¢ and not only because our BackwardsBush.com Countdown keychain is almost obsolete. All the hope, friendly good-fellowship, giving, celebration, and participatory democracy in the air is making us woozy – but totally in a good way! Visit USAservice.org, pic2009.com, NashvilleForAllofUs.org, VolunteerNashville.com, thenashvillefreepress.com, and Nashville.gov/vote. [18.6 MB 11:36 download MP3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090119part1.mp3)
Part 2 – Interview with Rev. Enoch Fuzz. Rev. Fuzz is the Senior Pastor of the Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church and one of the chairs of The Music City USA President’s Inauguration Day Charity Ball–the first ever in Nashville–which will be held Tuesday night, 1/20/09, at 7 pm, at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel. (Tickets still available at volunteernashville.com). Rev. Fuzz has plans not just tomorrow night but for our future as well and he joins a growing list of impressive Nashvillians who will help lead us out of the past. [21.6 MB 13:28 download MP3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090119part2enochfuzz.mp3)
Part 3 – Interview with Stephen Fotopolus. Stephen is the Executive Director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and has some very enlightening thoughts on the immigrant community in Nashville and the effects the English Only referendum will have on all of us. If you’re not sure how to vote, we’re positive that Stephen’s measured and well-thought out ideas will help you decide. [37.5 MB 23:25 download MP3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090119part3stephenfotopolus.mp3)
Part 4 – Against/Against on Thursday, January 22 – We’ve devoted a lot of air time to the vote against the English Only referendum and we’re not going to stop now with only three days before the election. Learn why Councilman Eric Crafton made the New York Times print a retraction, why he bailed on a locally televised TV debate against David Briley, and why he’s hiding the referendum’s funding source (hint: it’s because they’re not based in Nashville and have serious credibility problems). Seriously, it’s enough to put a serious damper on The Best Week Ever!â„¢ [28.2MB 17:37 download MP3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090119part4.mp3)
Part 5 – Ken Whitehouse, State Political Correspondent – The Oscar Madison of Tennessee political reporting (not sure if he’s messy, lives with a man, or likes sports – but he does wear a baseball cap!) joins us to give us the play by play of last week’s opening day shenanigans in the General Assembly. Is newly minted Speaker of the House Kent Williams really the devil? Will he stay a Republican? What happened while House Republicans prematurely celebrated their victory? And what about those pesky constitutional officers? [36.6MB 22:50 download MP3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090119part5kenwhitehouse.mp3)
Part 6 – 1 Day, 2 Hours, 11 Minutes, and 18 Seconds – More fun with Ken and one last plea to get out and vote Against/Against on Thursday. Do it to honor the memory of Dr. King, to celebrate the inauguration of Hope and Change, and to ensure that when we wake up on Friday, this really was The Best Week Ever!â„¢ [23.5MB 14:41 download MP3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090119part6.mp3)

Bumpers
Independence Day – Martina McBride
Last Splash – The Breeders
I Can’t Wait – Nu Shooz
Lovely Day – Bill Withers
American Land – Bruce Springsteen
This Land is Your Land – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
Fanfare for the Common Man – Aaron Copeland

Guest Playlist
Punk Rock from Whitehouse – A Playlist by Ken Whitehouse

UPDATE: On the other hand, the group opposing English Only, Nashville For All of Us, has released their numbers in all their glory – they’ve raised $286,000 so far and have about $120,000 on hand. Their donor list includes some heavy hitters:

HCA ($50,000)
Steve Turner from Market Street Investments, the company leading the redevelopment of The Gulch ($50,000)
Caterpillar Financial ($25,000)
Rogers Group Investments President Ben Rechter ($25,000)
Ingram Industries ($25,000)
Law firm Bass Barry & Sims ($10,000)
Vanderbilt University ($10,000)
Gaylord Entertainment ($10,000)
Cal Turner Jr. ($10,000)
Venture capitalist Andrew Byrd with Andrew Byrd LLC ($10,000)
Healthways Chairman Tom Cigarran ($10,000)
Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis ($10,000)
Bill Freeman of Freeman Webb Real Estate ($10,000)

Again, not releasing their numbers makes the English Only committee look like they have something to hide. Like, perhaps, that they have no local support or coalition backing them and that the money supporting what they say is a referendum that will benefit Nashville is really coming from an out of town group.

According to Election Commission coordinator, Joan Nixon, if they miss today’s deadline, she will send out a registered Assessment letter tomorrow. When she receives the green receipt card back from the post office, the $25.00 per day fine for missing the deadline will kick in. So, let’s say the Assessment letter goes out to the English Only folk on Friday and, best case scenario, they get it on Monday. Then the Post Office sends the receipt back and, again best cast scenario, Ms. Nixon receives it on Wednesday. If Crafton’s folks then file on Friday, the day after the election, then they’ve amassed a whopping $50.00 fine. Oh yeah, that’s going to hurt.

So let’s add this to what has happened so far in the English Only kerfuffle.

1) Nashville For All of Us, the coalition against the English Only referendum has almost every civic, spiritual, and community leader and organization in Nashville as official members, while Councilman Crafton’s coalition consists of a handful of conservative talk show hosts, Lou Dobbs, the friendly friends over at Fox and Friends, and the advocacy group Pro English, an out-of-state group that is tied to Dr. John Tanton, who has founded other anti-immigrant organizations that have been designated as “hate groups” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

2) The members of the Nashville for All of Us Coalition have made themselves available for dozens of local speaking engagements dedicated to the civil discussion of the pros and cons of the English Only referendum. Councilman Crafton has made himself available to national news outlets Fox and Friends and Lou Dobbs but recently pulled out of what was to be a locally-televised debate against one time mayoral candidate, David Briley, and moderated by well-respected Nashville elder statesman, John Seigenthaler. The debate will go on, by the way, tomorrow night at 7:00 PM on WNPT Channel 8, with Mr. Seigenthaler, Mr. Briley, and Mr. Empty Chair Representing Councilman ‘Fraidy Pants.

3) Today is the filing deadline for the referendum organizations. According to a statement made to The City Paper, Nashville for All of Us, will meet today’s disclosure deadline. Councilman Crafton’s group, of which he says, he is “merely the spokesman” and “not responsible for issues like disclosing campaign contributions and expenditures,” has responded to questions by the City Paper as to whether or not they will file like this:

Jon Crisp, former chairman of the Davidson County Republican Party and fellow leader of the English Only movement, failed to return multiple phone calls for this story.

Lampley [Lewis Lampley, listed as the group’s treasurer] said he had no comment on the “rumor” that Nashville English First intended not to file.

Crafton acknowledged Nashville English First had been supported by the advocacy group Pro English. The group was founded by Dr. John Tanton…

As unofficial Nashville for All of Us spokesman, Mike Kopp, says in the article, Crafton’s English Only group “would be showing a lack of transparency if it missed today’s disclosure deadline” and “Specifically, does this mean they have ties to a group and they’re afraid to disclose those ties? And will those relationships have any bearing on how this plays out?”

The group behind English Only has no Nashville-based business or community organizational support, are afraid to present their case in an impartial forum on local TV, and might be weaseling out of disclosing their funding sources to the citizens of our community. Are these really the actions of a group that says that what they are trying to pass is in the best interest of the city of Nashville?

Councilman Mike Jameson (The Fightin’ 6th!) explains why he believes Councilman Crafton ran screaming from the opportunity with this money quote:

When you sit down in front of a well-informed moderator and a capable opponent that are clearly going to discuss the minutiae of your argument, it’s only natural for your blood pressure to spike. I mean, why does meat fear the meatgrinder?

Fear of a well-informed opponent and well-respected moderator aside, Councilman Crafton’s removal of himself from this public forum proves that his reasons for pushing this referendum have less to do with the well-being of the city than his own publicity-seeking and overtly ambitious personal agenda. He’ll appear on Fox and Friends and Lou Dobbs, which broadcast to a national audience, but a debate on a television station whose signal broadcasts to the greater Nashville area is a no go.

UPDATE: NPT’s Joe Pagetta tells us that their blog now indicates that Councilman Crafton will not be on the show but is still welcome if he changes his mind. Also, the show has been scaled back to a half hour. Thanks, Joe!

Before you click on the link, try and guess which answer is winning, Yes or No. If you guessed “No,” you would be really, really wrong. As of about 2:15 pm on Wednesday afternoon, 4904 people have said they are for the English Only initiative and 1420 have said they are against it. 78% to 22%. Shocking, isn’t it? Especially since everyone you know to is against it, right? Right? Wrong.

You won’t hear a call from us to click on over to WSMV’s website and vote in their survey. Could care less. We need you where it counts and what we are asking you to do will take more effort.

First, have you voted yet? If not, get yourself to the polls. The last days of early voting at the Howard School are today, tomorrow, and Friday from 8 am to 5:30 pm, and on Satuday, from 9:00 am to 12 noon. Has your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, niece, nephew, best friend, best friend’s friend, yadda yadda yadda, voted yet? If not, then get them to the polls. We’re playing a numbers game here, voters, and we have to have more people vote Against/Against then For/For or we lose. Wait, let me rephrase that, or the city of Nashville loses.

Second, send out a mass email about voting in this important election to your personal email lists. All the information you need to create one to urge the people you know to vote Against/Against – from quick facts about the English Only referendum to who’s part of the large and growing locally-based Against/Against coalition – can be found at Nashvilleforallofus.org. Here’s is an example:

Bad for business.
• Nashville boasts 76 companies with some level of foreign investment. Those companies employ 7,660 Nashvillians and generated more than $19.6 billion in sales last year. At a time when Nashville is enjoying tremendous success recruiting international companies, the English-only effort sends a negative and inaccurate message to the world. Tom Oreck, CEO of Oreck Corporation, said, “I can tell you that if this had been the law when we were considering Nashville, Oreck might not have chosen this city.” (Tom is also featured in the Against/Against TV ad)
Bad for Nashville’s tourism industry.
• Tourism is important to Nashville, and international visitors comprise one of the fastest growing tourist segments. Last year, Nashville hosted more than 300,000 visitors from foreign countries, who averaged three days in Nashville and spent more than $150/day. As a result, those visitors contributed more than $135 million to Nashville’s economy.
A tremendous waste of taxpayer dollars.
• Its own language states that it will not apply to services that could affect public health or safety, or that are required by federal or state law. That means there are only a handful of services now being provided that would be halted. We are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in an effort to eliminate services that don’t exist so we can save approximately $495.00 per year.
Unnecessary.
• English is already the “official and legal language” of Tennessee, and Nashville. Our city does not need to change its own constitution for that to be true. Immigrants know better than anyone the importance of learning English. They also know that the faster they learn English, the faster they can assimilate into the society. If the concern is that immigrants are not learning English quickly enough, we should create more opportunities for them to learn.
Inconsistent with our values as a city.
• Nashville is a city of faith. For many people, of various faiths, the attempt to make English the only language in Nashville rings false. The Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Qur’an, all offer text supporting a more tolerant view of those who may not speak our language. “English-only,” not “English-first.”
The Sponsor of the referendum, Councilman Eric Crafton, does not have the best interest of Nashville in mind.
• Rather, it is his own self-interest and agenda that motivate him. While the coalition against the referendum is made up of Nashville’s business, community and spiritual leaders, Crafton’s “coalition” consists of one out of state company, Pro English, with deep pockets and ties to organizations designated as “hate groups” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. And if he did have the best interest of Nashville in mind, then why would Mr Crafton insist to the New York Times that “We’ll make English the official language here” and then “go city to city, show them how we’ve done it here, and let the dominos fall.”

Third, please volunteer some phone banking and or canvassing time to get the word out about this very important issue. Nashville For All of Us has an official headquarters located at 1814 Church Street, Nashville. Phone banking will be done at the HQ from Monday to Saturday from 10am – 8pm and on Sunday from 1pm – 6pm. You can also go there to schedule a canvassing shift. President-elect Obama is calling for Martin Luther King, Jr. day (Monday, January 19) to be a day of service. Make defeating the English Only referendum your much-needed service.

Nathan Moore, an English Only opponent and a “keen conservative legal mind”, digs up some pertinent info from Green Bay, Wisconsin, one of the bigger cities to have passed an English Only ordinance.

Councilman Eric Crafton, the English Only referendum sponsor, attempts to back out of a scheduled debate obligation because “If Karl Dean doesn’t have enough time to come,” he said. “I don’t see why I should.”

Sean Braisted, English Only opponent, calls Crafton on some of his New York Times-worthy anecdotal evidence (and makes an appropriate analogy).

Lady with a car, who is either for Crafton’s referendum or just really loves signage, almost runs over FOL* and Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel Managing Director Tom Negri, while stealing an “Against/Against” lawn sign.

A day like this makes it even more apparent that the clearer heads in this English Only battle are those who are against the referendum.

*Friend of Liberadio(!)

Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (along with Executive Order 13166) determines that any local government department receiving federal funds must provide its services in multiple languages, because the law says we cannot disciminate against individuals based on national origin.

Here is the useage breakdown of Metro’s interpretation services (these numbers were provided to me by the mayor’s office)

Health 41.71%
Police / Sheriff 33.13%
Juvenile / Courts 7.95%
Metro Water 6.62%
General Hospital/Bordeaux 9.43%
Nashville Career Advis. 0.71%

All of the above departments receive Title VI funds. The total is 99.55%. It appears I was more than generous with my previous estimate of 97%. This means that the passage of English Only could only affect 0.045% of the money spent, which means that Metro would save $495 per year. Or, we could just give back $250 million in federal funds each year.

The election is going to cost somewhere between $300,000 and $500,000 to conduct. This means it will take somwhere between 606 years and 1010 years to realize the nominal savings on this election.

Ah, I love the smell of number crunching in the morning.