In Penn & Teller: BS!, the crusaders utilize principles of magic and trickery, as well as good old fashioned “hidden camera” sting operations, to smoke out these nonsense peddlers and reveal how they operate.

….

As our increasingly anti-intellectual, anti-science culture moves on each day to new crackpot subject matters, Penn & Teller are there to aggressively shoot down whack-jobs and fuzzy thinkers, no matter where they originate.

I think Freddie is right, it’s all performance art coming from conservatives these days and they apparently always crave a bigger audience.

We’ll have the audio posted tomorrow but in the meantime, Aunt B. of the Tiny Cat Pants has strike two against Rep. Campfield. She asks, is Rep. Campfield a Communist since he seems to be, albeit quite selectively, anti-Capitalism?

Campfield is trying to pass a law that would allow college students to not buy the assigned books for their classes if those assigned books are written by their professors. I’m having a great laugh at this, just trying to imagine how the hell UT or other state schools are supposed to recruit top talent and then turn around and tell them that their expertise isn’t valued in the classroom.

I mean, shoot, if the guy who designed your car wanted to show you all the nifty features it had, you wouldn’t be all “Oh my god, the designer of the car is only trying to tell me what he knows so that he can make a profit! I demand you give me someone who doesn’t know as much about this car to tell me about it!!!!!!”

But the best part is the comment he left at the bottom of this story.

I tried to make clear to the reporter the bill would not stop the professor from possibly requiring a book they authored. It would only keep them from directly profiting from that sale. They could still require the book then forgo the kickback they get from the book publisher for their classes sales.

That “kickback” is called “royalties.” That’s what you get paid to write a book. Is your paycheck a “kickback” from your employer? Does Campfield really believe that college professors should just write books for the good of the world and not be payed the fair market value for their work?

…

I just love how telling people what money they can make and how they can make it are supposed to be bad things under Tennessee conservative ideology until the people making it are academics and then, whoa boy, the Republicans better get in there and run things like Soviets.

…

But damn. “Kickbacks.” Yes, when you get paid for the work you do and Campfield likes you, it’s called a paycheck. When you get paid for the work you do and Campfield doesn’t like you, it’s called a kickback.

I think Stacey Campfield is the Frank Sinatra of Tennessee. It’s his State, we just live in it.

The incident began inside Neyland Stadium when a mother and her two daughters became “upset because a man was sitting in their section (Section B) with a mask on,” according to McReynolds’ report. “The girls were upset because they had been told they not could wear masks into the stadium and the mask was such that it was bothering them.”

McReynolds and a Knox County Sheriff’s Office deputy found the masked man and asked him to step into the portal.

“I told him masks were not allowed in the stadium and told him he would have to take it off,” McReynolds wrote. “He asked why and I again told him that masks were not allowed and he could either give the mask to me or take it off and put it away. Before I could finish my sentence he took off the mask and asked if he could keep it. I told him ‘yes’ and thanked him for complying.”

The officer noted that Campfield then re-entered the stadium area but went a different direction than his original seat.

“Curious about this odd behavior and concerned that he had misunderstood our interaction, I caught up with him in front of the concession stand in Section D,” McReynolds wrote. “I … began to tell him that I was not asking him to leave the section, just to take off his mask. Again … he interrupted and said, ‘I was just taking a walk. Is it illegal to walk around?’ I told him ‘no,’ and was surprised by his sudden confrontational attitude. … He again asked if walking around was illegal. I told him ‘no’ and again began to explain that he did not have to leave his seat, just take off the mask. He continued to ask if walking around was illegal. … Thinking that something was not right (he kept saying the same phrase over and over, would not make eye contact and kept shifting on his feet, left to right) I asked to see his ticket.”

Apparently, the rules for safety and security in this post-9/11 world that apply to the rest of us don’t apply to would-be Tennessee State Senator, Stacey Campfield.

UPDATE: More from Christian Grantham

HT: A Kleinheider Joint
FT: Devin Brady

For today, I’m going to size up the Democratic field. We’ll know the final field in April, when filing forms are due, but right now we have 5 announced Democratic candidates:

• Ward Cammack
• Roy Herron
• Jim Kyle
• Kim McMillan
• Mike McWherter

There they are in alphabetical order. Now I’m going to review the campaigns in likelihood of primary victory, from least to greatest.

Ward Cammack got an early start and seemed to impress several progressive politicos with his technocratic attention to green issues, which include detailed policy positions rather than just fluff about his being a “green” candidate. Unfortunately, staffing issues made public and an unwillingness to commit to self-fund coupled with a past history of financially backing Republicans mean Cammack’s campaign has probably already peaked with Democratic primary voters. I doubt Tennessee will ever see another political anomaly like Phil Bredesen. As much as Cammack would like to be one, he simply ain’t. Don’t hold your breath waiting for any of the other candidates to subject themselves to a Stacey Campfield interview.

Jim Kyle put paid to Rosalind Kurita, the thorn in his legislative side that kept him from his dream of becoming lieutenant governor. Even had his dream been realized, though, it would’ve been short lived based on the Republican tide that swept the state senate in 2008. But getting into the game last when there’s no great-stakes political issue to serve as a point of distinction (all three legislators in the race at one point supported an income tax during their legislative careers) is probably going to leave Kyle toward the back of the pack. Early Democratic dollars already have already chased other candidates, and Kyle likely pissed off at least part of a demographic constituency that will now drift to…

Kim McMillan, though uninspiring on the stump, is the one legislative candidate with the benefit of post-legislative executive experience in the Bredesen administration. One wonders, though, why so many Bredesen people flocked so quickly to the McWherter campaign. A cynic might suspect it was the money. McMillan, too, lost a high-profile staffer (causing him to leave the state, in fact). But she has a built-in advantage: women. Republicans have earned some attention statewide for having a variety of high-profile female officeholders. McMillan offers Tennessee women the opportunity to vote for the first woman governor in state history. A built-in constituency should let McMillan pass Kyle but, based on the power of money in politics, probably won’t let her compete on even footing with legacy and organization.

Mike McWherter, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to have much to trade in politically other than being “Ned Ray’s boy,” a descriptor one is likely to overhear at Democratic functions where a previous generation of handlers is on hand to introduce the junior variety around. From being unfamiliar with his party’s President’s name to unnecessarily opining on adoption by gay couples, Mike has already cut off support from a full wing of primary voters, unwise in a broad field where no one is actively courting them but neither is any one seeking to piss them off. There have already been a few remarks about his gun-shyness in last cycle’s U.S. Senate race against Lamar! I suspect there will be a lot of Democrats across the state who wind up saying something nice to Mike’s father while pulling the lever for one of his opponents. Still, those who remember Ned Ray as fondly as many remember Bill Clinton might pay homage one more time. The former governor is a legend of Tennessee Democratic politics, and the power of political legacy in Tennessee can’t be completely discounted.

In this field, though, Roy Herron is the natural winner on the stump. Also, his reputation as a micromanager actually bodes well for an executive position. If he needs to delegate more effectively, he can worry about it after his army of volunteers–visible at every Democratic party function since Jackson Day–disbands after the campaign. Clearly comfortable with both the law and religion (to the point where he wrote a book about it), he’ll be somewhat difficult to out-God. And co-chairing the Broadband Task Force gives him technocratic cred competitive with Cammack’s, especially with his focus on the spread of technology access to the next generation of Tennesseans. In the most recent session, he spoke out forcefully on a number of progressive issues. In Middle Tennessee, I’ve noticed that people from across the Democratic spectrum have lined up behind Herron. Herron’s heel, though, will be his campaign’s comfort with stretching the truth (reinforcing a subtle meme about preacher-lawyer-politicians) on fundraising and an early messaging on labor that might let the faithful in that important Democratic machine operate the machinery for various of the competition. If Herron’s demonstrated organization so far, though, turns out to be more than a for-show Howard Dean fly-in, and he doesn’t back down on the stump, getting out the vote will be easier for him in the hinterlands, likely giving him enough margin for victory.

In the it-came-from-Dresden scenario, no amount of Ned Ray money or suction (with, for instance, Clinton at Jackson Day) is going to allow Mike, even with a crew of Bredesen acolytes at his beck and call, to strong-arm himself into pole position.

The question will be whether the lawyer-preacher-politician can do better against Haslam than Bryson did against Bredesen. And I’ve already laid out a little bit of my thinking on the answer to that question.

I should be clear that this is my analysis of the race at this point in the game. It is not an endorsement of any candidate. We expect to extend interview invitations to all 5 Democratic candidates as primary day draws nearer. Y’know… next year.

Part 1 – Dodging a Bullet – News, to do list, is this Daylight Savings Time thingy working for us or against us, Councilman Mike Jameson calls a meeting about Riverfront development, and Councilman Jason Holleman’s storm water amendment. [37.3 MB 23:13 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090309part1.mp3)

Independence Day – Martina McBride
Cannonball – The Breeders
See a Little Light – Bob Mould

Part 2 – Interview with Hal Cato – Joining us is Hal cato, president and CEO of Oasis Center, to tell us about their new digs at the Youth Opportunity Center – where Oasis and their partner organizations have banded together to serve young Middle-Tenneseans facing real challenges. Health care, job assistance, counseling, education support, emergency residential services, college counseling, youth leadership opportunities, and even a youth-run business are just some of what they offer all under one roof. [20 MB 12:30 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090309part2halcato.mp3)

Philadelphia Freedom – Elton John

Part 3 – The More You Know The more you know the more you are able to make informed decisions based on your values. So it’s surprising that Rep. Stacey Campfield, “Rep. Daddy,” for the sake of this segment, introduced his “Don’t Say Gay” bill which would “prohibit the teaching of or furnishing of materials on human sexuality other than heterosexuality in public school grades K-8.” With this legislation, Rep. Daddy once again introduces an unnecessary bill and makes it clear that if he had kids and they went to public school, all further discussion of important issues would stop once they got home. [14.7 MB 09:10 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090309part3.mp3)

People Get Ready – Curtis Mayfield

Part 4 – Interview with Peter Canellos – Peter Canellos is Washington bureau chief of The Boston Globe and editor of Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy, the newly published biography of Ted Kennedy by the team at the Globe. It’s all in there – his brothers and the Kennedy mystique, Chappaquiddick, universal health care, his political legacy, and the relationship between Kennedy and President Obama. Plus, we get his thoughts on the state of journalism in the digital era and a down economy. [26.4MB 16:29 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090309part4petercanellos.mp3)

We’re in Yr Corner – Cornershop (album: When I Was Born For The 7th Time)
The Step and the Walk – The Duke Spirit (album: Neptune)

Part 5 – Our Ears are Marked by a Conservative Caller – Who tries to spread the lie that President Obama promised during his campaign to stop earmark spending and is breaking that promise by signing the spending bill currently being considered in the Senate. We miss Elbert but we don’t need him for a smackdown. [8.8MB 5:31 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090309part5.mp3)

Part 6 – Making the Sausage is Hard – So some legislators take the easy way out by making complex issues appear in stark black and white so they can present them cynically to their constituents. Congressman Zach Wamp (R-TN) went on national TV and did it with the issue of Universal healthcare (we replay the audio), and Rep. Debra Maggart did it with an abortion bill (which is why we’re once again having a difficult conversation about abortion). [25:13MB 40:04 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090309part6.mp3)

Part 1 – Oh, Sean Penn…Really? – Oscar recap, Liberadio(!) dance party, to do List, a preview of Tuesday night’s State of the Union that isn’t a State of the Union, and take it from one commie, homo-lovin’, son-of-gun to another, Sean Penn’s acceptance speech will not move the dialogue on marriage equality in a good direction. [29.3 MB 18:16 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090223part1.mp3)

Independence Day – Martina McBride
Cannonball – The Breeders
Jai Ho! – A.R. Rahman, Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah & Mahalaxmi Iyer (Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack)
Lovely Day – Bill Withers

Part 2 – Interview with Alan Coverstone – Alan represents District 9 on the Metro Nashville Public School Board of Education. Generally, we ask him why our public schools aren’t yet palaces. More specifically, we ask about school choice, expanded options, the most recent (and controversial) student assignment plan, the new Director of Schools, tension within the system and pressure from outside sources, and what we can do to engage in the process of constantly improving our public schools. [39.8 MB 24:48 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090223part2alancoverstone.mp3)

Pure – Lightening Seeds
Step On – Happy Mondays

Part 3 – Don’t They Have Anything Better to Do? Do you mean to tell us that Tennessee’s General Assembly is completely in the hands of Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction and they have nothing better to do than introduce legislation that infringes on the reproductive health of women? Is that what Tennesseans voted for? Or did we want something to be done about our bottom-of-the-barrel health statistics? And if reducing the number of abortions is really a goal instead of political calculus, we all know there is a smarter way to go about it than their dog-and-pony show constitutional amendments. Let’s start by figuring out why we’re 20th in family planning public funding but 40th in births to teen mothers (ages 15-19). Seriously, do we need to have Sarah Palin come and talk to you people? [21 MB 13:05 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090223part3.mp3)

Brimful of Asha (Norman Cook Original Radio Edit Remix) – Cornershop (Norman Cook Mix)

Part 4 – Interview with Heather Boushey – Dr. Boushey doesn’t have a beard but she is a high-profile economist, which can only mean one thing – she’s a good-looking woman with a keen sense of history! She’s also a senior economist for Center for American Progress and she joins us to assess what it would mean for a red state like Tennessee to reject the economic stimulus cash, what Americans can expect from this bill, President Obama’s policy package designed to address America’s mortgage and foreclosure crisis, what’s expected in the budget, the coming $1 trillion deficit, and what the average American should do in this time of economic woe. [23.4MB 14:35 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090223part4heatherboushey.mp3)

Drivin’ Me Wild – Common w/ Lily Allen (Album: Finding Forever)

Part 5 – The Gang That Couldn’t Govern Straight – What does a U.S. Senator have in common with “The Rep” from Knoxville, Tennessee and Rep. Mike Turner’s BFF, Rep. Glen “Hollywood” Casada? Their ideas are so old and useless (Tax cuts? Really?) that all they have left is to demand that each one personally verify the authenticity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. And no, it doesn’t matter that it’s been verified and authenticated by several sources already – they’ll wait their turn. Plus, a delightfully cynical and myopic listener joins us to say that while she hates “both Democrats and Republicans” equally, we’re really pissing her off. [46MB 28:41 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090223part5.mp3)

See a Little Light – Bob Mould (Album: Workbook)

Most of the legislators actively listened. Some tried a little artful dodging. Below is audio from conversations I had with some of the participants.

Rep. John DeBerry and Senator Paul Stanley (Memphis)

Four men from Memphis met with Rep. John DeBerry and Senator Paul Stanley, and received two very different receptions. Two of the four are a committed couple who are currently trying to adopt in Tennessee. They describe the process. Link to the mp3 (2:30)
Download audio file (liberadio-20090217-tnep-deberry-stanley.mp3)

Republican House Leader Rep. Jason Mumpower (Bristol)

Joseph Rymer, from Bristol, is the Tri-Cities committee chair of the TNEP. He met with Jason Mumpower who told him he was interested in finding “middle-ground” and “working towards inclusion of all people.” Link to mp3 (2:00)
Download audio file (liberadio-20090217-tnep-mumpower.mp3)

Rep. David Hawk (Greeneville)

Mr. Rymer, who had an ambitious agenda of meeting with a total of 9 legislators in one day, also spoke with Rep. Hawk – a man seemingly torn between his personally beliefs and political expediency. He also let me know what it’s like to live as an openly gay man in a very conservative area. Hint: It’s exhausting to live in fear until you make it to one of your safety zones. Link to mp3 (1:40)
Download audio file (liberadio-20090217-tnep-hawk.mp3)

Senator Diane Black (Gallatin)

Part 1 – One of the more dramatic series of events was the cancellation of the Sumner County delegation’s meeting with Senator Diane Black. The day before, Senator Black made a personal phone call to Anne Miller, who had set up the meeting, to explain why meeting would be a waste of time. Link to mp3 (1:25)
Download audio file (liberadio-20090217-tnep-black-1.mp3)

Part 2 – Senator Black then confirmed to another of her constituents, Susan Brown of Springfield, that if she disagrees with you, she sees no value in meeting. Interestingly, however, during their short conversation, Senator Black indicated that she would support the bill to allow gender changes on birth certificates. Link to mp3 (1:07)
Download audio file (liberadio-20090217-tnep-black-2.mp3)

Part 3 – The meeting with Senator Black was set for 2:00 PM, and even though it had been canceled the night before, Anne, Tara, Susan, and Maria Brewer decided to go to her office at the appointed time to see if they could get in to see her. Senator Black – luckily or unluckily depending on your perspective – came out of her office just as the women arrived and, caught by surprise, agreed to give the group five minutes. Maria recaps. Link to mp3 (1:53)
Download audio file (liberadio-20090217-tnep-black-3.mp3)

Rep. Frank Nicely (Knoxville)

Brad Coulter and his family drove from Knoxville to meet with their representative and were stood up. So they decided to wait outside a committee room to see if they could grab a few minutes of Rep. Nicely’s time. For Brad, the TNEP’s Advancing Equality Day on the Hill was very personal – his sister is gay and had to move with her partner and baby son to another state so her partner could become a legal parent to the child. As Brad puts it, it’s a shame that Tennessee had to lose two valuable members of the community because they didn’t feel welcome. Link to mp3 (1:51)
Download audio file (liberadio-20090217-tnep-nicely.mp3)
Brad later called to tell me – excitedly – that he and his family had met with Rep. Nicely and he was receptive and cordial.

Rep. Stacey Campfield (Knoxville)
Rep. Campfield was a no-show for his appointment. Then he rescheduled and missed that meeting too.

The most disturbing part of the day – other than not being able to hear the stories of each of today’s civil rights citizen lobbyists (I heard there were productive meetings with Senator Joe Haynes, Rep. Gary Odom, Rep. Mike Turner, and others) – was Senator Black’s insistence that there was no need to meet with her constituents because she didn’t agree with them. I guess just like George W. Bush in 2004, she has one accountability moment every 6 years.

UPDATE: Chris Sanders, president of the Tennessee Equality Project recaps the day on his blog, Grand Divisions, and Jeff Woods at the Scene weighs in.

UPDATE II: Jeff Woods at the Nashville Scene’s Pith in the Wind does some seriously good editorializing on why Senator Black’s actions were inexcusable: “With a series of audio reports on the Liberadio(!) website, Mary Mancini paints a picture of democracy in action–Tennessee style. Any oily lobbyist with a checkbook can waltz into any legislative office at any time of the day or night and receive a full hearing. But when gays and lesbians and their supporters tried to lobby the legislature yesterday like any other citizens of this great land, their elected representatives often were less than alert and receptive listeners.”

Part 1 – Second Amendment zealots should try living in Britain, water boarding zealots should try living at Guantanamo, and corporate protectionists should try looking out for the American people. Plus, WeeklyRadioAddress.com sends you love letters and pink champagne.
Part 2 – In celebration of President’s Day we interview with Abraham Lincoln. No, really! And then we interview Dennis Boggs.
Part 3 – We discuss Super Delegates, Governor Bredesen, and Huck. Hijinks ensue.
Part 4 – Interview with the Director of the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center at Vanderbilt University, Linda Manning.
Part 5 – John McCain sings (like hope, but different), Rep. Stacey Campfield suppresses, and we consider an alternative reproductive rights conversation. Plus, Hey! Where you going with those FEMA trailers?!?!?