Another Brick in the Wall

My wife related to me a story that happened to her today.

This morning we attended BrainyBoy's Thanksgiving program at his school. He goes to a private religious school, so I was privileged to hear him reciting Psalm 100 with a few other of his classmates. After the program we went to lunch and from there I went back to work briefly and he and my wife ran some errands. In the midst of their travels, they went by Target and were looking through the toy section. Since my son wants a GameBoy for Christmas, they were discussing possible cartridges that he might like.

Also in the section was a grandmotherly type, looking for an XBox cartridge for her 7-year-old grandson (the same age as BrainyBoy). She must have been rather clueless about such things, and, spying the game the lady was examining a helpful salesperson came up to help her.

Grandma was perusing Grand Theft Auto III Double Pack for XBox. (You can probably see where I'm headed with this)

Salesperson: Um, ma'am, I'm not sure that game is right for your grandson.

Grandma: Well, he says all his friends at school have it..

Salesperson: You can see there's a rating system on the package that tells which games are suitable for which age group. "E" you see is for Everyone, "T" is for Teens and "M" if for Mature audiences. [GTA is rated "M"]


To make a long story short, Grandma hemmed and hawed about it for awhile and bought it anyway.

Oh, yeah, she also said it wasn't available for for this kid's Gamecube (!!!) so she had to get it for his XBox (!!!).

...

Y'know, where do I start?

First of all I can maybe give Grandma the benefit of the completely technical ignorant. Some people just couldn't tell the difference between a splatterfest like GTA and Chutes and Ladders if their life depended on it. If the highest technical achievement you ever mastered was the iron, then hey, I'm not going to get bent out of shape.

But thankfully (and hopefully) only a very few people are like that. For everyone else, there's no excuse. Any logical, rational person should be able to see and understand the difference between an "E" game like Mario Brothers and an "M" game like GTA. One contains violence, the other doesn't. Everyone should be able to tell the difference.

Unfortunately there are some that just don't care, or think it's important that their kids not be exposed to certain material. Are the persuasion powers of kids these days that great, or is it only exceeded by the apathy levels of their parents (and grandparents)? I think it's the latter - while kids are great for whining and needling about needing this or that, it's the parent's responsibility not to filter out the noise and listen to their kids. And to understand that every decision - every decision they make concerning their kids is vital, and can resonate throughout their entire life.

If Grandma knew that sonnyboy - seven! Did you hear me? He's seven!! - gets whatever he wants for the electronic babysitter which means that Mom and Dad are willing and probably relieved not to be burdened with the nuances of their son's upbringing. And we see that all the time - "all my friends have it!" That may or may not be precisely true, but we see it all over.

So sonnyboy will probably get the game for Christmas from Grandma, fire it up that afternoon and proceed to splatter hookers and pedestrians all over the street, then return to second grade - second grade - when school gets back in.

What will he be like when he's 10? 15? 21? I hope his parents are wondering the same thing...

Welcome to the Rocky Top Brigade

Big RTB welcome to the newest Brigadiers:

Aaron Chapman at The Golden Calf, John at In A Mays, The Conservative Zone, and Goobage.

Collect your membership cards at the door. Your decoder rings will be mailed to you.

Nursery Rhymes

Gigglegirl came home the other day from day care,

Her: "Daddy? Want to hear the new song I learned?"

Me: "Sure."

Her: (ahem)
"There is a castle on a cloud.
I like to go there in my sleep.
Not many floors for me to sweep,
Here in my castle on a cloud."

Me: (jaw dropping). "Wow, sweety, that's beautiful!"

That's the first four lines of "Castle on a Cloud" from Les Miserables. I see bright things for this girl...;)

...

Tonight we went to see the boat parade on the Knoxville riverfront near Calhoun's on the River. Had dinner with some good friends and their toddler, wandered around the Christmas-bedecked waterfront and Volunteer Landing and felt guilty for being in the Christmas spirit. Then we realized it was actually just about a month till Christmas. Oh, ok then.

I put GiggleGirl on my shoulders and walked around with her, watching the boats and fireworks and helped her feed the ducks. She had on her ruby slippers she got from her birthday and fell asleep on her way home with a red balloon tied to her wrist.

I don't blog about my son as much as I do her - maybe a four-year-old has such wonder it's easier to relate than a seven-year-old boy. He's so smart, she's so innocent - I still don't know why or how I deserve them.

Finally

Attorney Wants Jackson's Children Removed

"An attorney who has tangled with Michael Jackson (news) called Friday for child welfare authorities to temporarily remove the pop star's three children from his custody because of new child molestation allegations."

This would fall squarely in the "It's about damn time" category.

Thank you

"From the WVLT VOLUNTEER TV Newsroom:

The Knox County Commission has voted 10-9 to withdraw the so-called "God Resolution." The resolution recognizes God as the foundation of American heritage and government. It has already been adopted in several other East Tennessee counties."

Link and more info when it's available online.

UPDATE: Commissioners table God resolution (Knoxville News Sentinel: 11/17/03, by Michael Silence)

"Knox County commissioners today essentially killed the God resolution by voting in a narrow margin to withdraw it from the agenda.

The vote brought a standing ovation from some people in the half-filled auditorium, most there to see what would happen on the issue."

...

Shortly after the meeting began, Commissioner Diane Jordan moved that the resolution be withdrawn. Several commissioners called for the question, ending debate, and Jordan's motion passed 10-to-9.

Joining Jordan in voting to withdraw it were Thomas "Tank" Strickland Jr., David Collins, Billy Tindell, Wanda Moody, John Schmid, Phil Guthe, Mike Arms, John Griess and Mary Lou Horner.

Voting against withdrawal were Ivan Harmon, Craig Leuthold, Mark Cawood, Larry Stephens, Scott Moore, Mike McMillan, John Mills, Larry Clark and Howard Pinkston.

Remember this list next election day...

More on the "God Resolution"

• RALLIES HELD FOR AND AGAINST GOD IN GOVERNMENT
  (WBIR.com: 11/16/03)
  
  

  "Two groups had separate petition drives Saturday, one in Mascot, the other in Seymour. The organizers say they're trying to protect America's heritage, which they believe, is founded in God.
  
  "If our children lose this now, the disrespect we see in the schools now, with prayer already taken out," says petition organizer Susie Davis, "I feel like this is one more step in removing God from everything we have."

  This is one of the most dangerous attitudes people are having now. It's not the school where children learn disrespect - it's at home. Your home. The one you're passing the buck from. If you don't teach children respect at home, the mostly Godly school in the world isn't going to help them. Parents, responsibility. Now.
  
  Besides, looks at what she says, "I feel like this is one more step in removing God from everything we have." What she's actually saying is that she is so insecure in the way she is teaching her children about God that if the Government doesn't supply it, it's being taken away from them. I've got news for you, ma'am -- noone can take God away from you, or what you have, unless you let it slip away. And that's exactly what's happening -- You refuse to look after your children's souls and blame the government. Nice.
  
  
• Sam Venable channels Ina Hughs, and gets it: God can take care of Himself
  
  

  "It's none of the government's business. Period. It isn't now and it wasn't in 1954, when the fear of "godless communists" was so pervasive in this nation that the words "under God" were inserted in the Pledge of Allegiance.
  
  I have read the God resolution that's to be considered by Knox County Commission. Parts of it I can accept in the vein of atta-boy fluff - although I reiterate that the God I worship certainly doesn't need political assistance.
  
  But parts of this thing are flat-out wrong. The whole business of that Ten Commandments statue in Alabama was ill conceived from the get-go, and the Alabama Court of the Judiciary was 100 percent correct in giving Judge Roy Moore the boot.
  
  The court did not tell Judge Moore he couldn't practice his religion. It simply said he couldn't practice it on company time. There's a huge difference, and anyone not blinded by dogma can see it.
  
  Anyone not blinded by dogma can also see the difference in a typical government proclamation and the time bomb of the God resolution."

  What's more interesting, is the online poll the KNS is running next to Venable's column:
  
  Do you agree?
  (1) Yes - 90.8 % (59)
  (2) No - 7.7 % (5)
  (3) Not Sure - 1.5 % (1)
  
  Obviously there aren't many responses, but if it's any indication of the true feelings of Knox Countians the County Commissioners supporting this issue had better understand which of their constituents have the true power.
  

This Just In...

N.J. Rock Station Won't Play Jethro Tull

'Jethro Tull is off the playlist of a classic rock station after the band's frontman criticized displays of the Stars and Stripes.

"I hate to see the American flag hanging out of every bloody station wagon, out of every SUV, every little Midwestern house in some residential area," Ian Anderson was quoted as saying in an interview published Sunday in the Asbury Park Press.

...

"The reaction of our audience has been 99 percent in favor of the ban and 99 percent incredulous that he would say such stupid things," said Phil LoCascio, WCHR program director and on-air personality.

However, the remaining 1% of the listeners were confused and puzzled because they always thought the name of the lead singer of Jethro Tull was a guy named Jethro Tull.

Goodnight, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

So then, why do it?

Knox County Commissioners are prepared to vote on a resolution recognizing God as the inspiration and founder of America's legal system. Or government. Or something like that -- it's a little unfocused.

Law chief: God measure shouldn't have 'rightfully'
(Knoxville News Sentinel: 11/14/03, by Michael Silence. Hat Tip, SayUncle)

"The resolution has drawn both praise and condemnation and has been passed by several counties in the state. [Commissioner and resolution co-sponser Ivan] Harmon has said it is symbolic and simply recognizes God's influence in the founding of the country."

So then, if it's non-binding and has no real value beyond the symbolic yet is controversial and divisive, plus constitutionally suspect - why do it?

However, it's getting mixed reaction in this area...

Resolution stirring mixed area response
(Knoxville News Sentinel: 11/14/03, by Jeannine F. Hunter.)

"Anybody that would not adopt this resolution, ain't no hope for them," said June Griffin of Dayton, Tenn., who spent five years visiting county commissioners statewide to encourage passage of resolutions recognizing the Ten Commandments as the nation's historical foundation.

Well, we all know what kind of enlightenment has historically flowed out of Dayton, TN. Apparently correct grammar does not. (All right, that's petty, but why is she your spokesperson?)

"I think the fear of God is beginning to creep across this state and across this nation in light of the tyranny that's being exercised in Alabama."

Scary stuff. Tyranny? The Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice refuses to obey a federal court order, and that's tyranny? Do people know what real tyranny is? Tyranny is taxation without representation. Tyranny is getting sent to gas chambers via train cars. Tyranny is being dragged into the street and decapitated in front of your children because your husband was an Iraqi dissident. But I digress. Oh, and that's not all...

"Our leaders better make a public statement that we will acknowledge God no matter what judges say. Better to lose your job than your life," she said. "This is eternity here. Denying God is atheism."

No, ma'am - not making a public statement is not denying God. Respecting the established authority is not denying God. A state or municipality cannot "deny God" any more than it can feel guilt, harbor jealousy or hate the city across the river. A person's choice to deny or accept God is their own, and neither you nor County Commissioners nor any other "resolution" will affect it. I think Ms. Griffin would be better off examining her own life and relationship to God before she starts examining others'.

Quite a few local religious leaders said they had not fully read news stories or the resolution for themselves and declined commenting on the record. Others suggested that private opposition could not be expressed strongly and publicly due to the region's conservative nature.

Nothing like being fully informed, but at least they didn't publicly express an opinion. I think every local religious leader should be fully aware of the scope and ramifications of this proposal - pro or con - because their parishioners deserve guidance from their spiritual leader. Of course, as the second part of the paragraph suggests, oppose the resolution at your own risk because a lot of local conservative church-goers have deep pockets that might take them elsewhere if they don't agree with your position.

'Dr. Bob Bevington, founding pastor of the Knoxville Baptist Tabernacle, said, "I am for separation of church from state, _but I am not for separation of state from God."'

Again, they don't quite get it - the state cannot have a relationship with God. Obviously. To mix the two is to invite a theocratic-based democracy, where specific religious rules have a chance of turning into laws - rules that not everyone who lives her may agree with.

For instance, it's basic that murder, theft, assault, etc are all crimes that hurt other people. What happens when a community's leadership is directly controlled and influenced by a certain religious practice? Adultery could become illegal. So could relationships between people of the same sex. Or certain sexual acts -- oh, wait, that's already illegal in Georgia -- or certain speech...or say, maybe, criticism of the government could be seen as criticism of the church and God and then seen as un-Godly. Maybe since some say the Bible teaches women are inferior to me, women could be forced not to work, or to walk behind their husbands in public, or not allowed to go to school, or to wear completely unrevealing clothing....well, you can see where I'm going with this.

"[Immaculate Conception Catholic Church member Phyllis] Lockwood said each individual should be allowed to use the word "God."

"God can symbolize the universe, or an almighty power or whatever it is that you want to attach to the name. ...You can't take the word away," Lockwood said. "It's in the dictionary. It exists and it's up to each individual, the meaning that they place behind that word that determines its significance."

But we all should realize that the resolution is not intended by its backers to refer to a universal "God". It's deliberately written to acknowledge the Christian God, and no other. To interpret it to refer to anyone's own interpretation of God is fine, but to not recognize the actual purpose of the resolution - to promote one religion over all others - is short-sighted and naive.

I belong to a Methodist Church here in town, and I suspect a number of my friends and fellow church-members probably support this proposal (as well as the Alabama judge), which makes me uncomfortable discussing it among them. But the bottom line that seems to be continuosly trampled is that America, which I acknowledge likely had its government and legal system established using Christianity as its basis) is no longer that same country it was 200+ years ago. Our Constitution was written specifically to protect us from the same religious persecution the Pilgrims fled in England - a theocracy that didn't allow them to worship as they pleased. America changed all of that, and welcomed people of all different faiths and beliefs. We want them to come, we want them all to worship and build churches/mosques/synagogues/whatever. We want their ideas and influences and diversity to become part of our communities.

But some people were never taught that.

It's their way or the highway. Their God or none. This proposal is another step in the direction that our fathers wanted to avoid. And it's one thing we're struggling against half a world away. Losing the freedom to choose how and who to worship would be to lose a fundamental stone in America's foundation. I hope they realize that.

...

SayUncle is all over this as well (link).

Conversations

On the way to Daycare...

Me: (Engaging in harmless banter with daughter)

Gigglegirl: Knock it off!

Me: What? Now-w-w-w, that's not a very nice thing to say to your Dad!

Gigglegirl: (pause). Knock it off!!

Me: Arrgh!

Gigglegirl: Hee hee!

...

(Later...)

Gigglegirl: Daddy, what's that ladder for? (pointing to metal ladder attached to the back of an 18-wheeler)

Me: That's so people can climb up to the top of the truck.

Gigglegirl: Ohhhh...

Me: ....so they can go up and get the Mynocks off.

Gigglegirl: (puzzled) What's a...Mynock?

Me: It's these big leathery lizard bird things that fly around and eat through the top of trucks.

Gigglegirl: (pause) Ohhhh....


I'm a b-a-a-a-d boy...

New Record

Thanks to the InstaDaddy, yesterday was the most visited day ever on Inn of the Last Home. I hope everyone who travelled here from any of the Rocky Top Brigade sites enjoyed their visit, enjoyed reading what our brothers and sisters had to say, and know that they're welcome to come back any time.

Thanks!

Official Starfleet Log Entry: Regarding Matter of Lost Ancient Earth Artifact containing data regarding "Volunteer Tailgate Party, Vol XV"

Captain's StarLog: November 11, 2145. Captain Jonathan Archer, commanding USS Enterprise.

Science Officer T'Pol has finished salvaging the ancient artifact that was found floating through space in the Expanse. Actually, it was Trip who identified it as an Earth device, circa early 21st century - what they used to call a Palm Pilot, or a PDA. Nice, compact design for information storage and retrieval - I'll have to speak to Starfleet about updating the design. It's unknown at this time how it came to be way out here, but they're working on some theories.

Anyway, the memory module - while badly damaged - was still barely intact and barely readable, still an amazing fact after all this time. Ensign Sato has been able to recover most of it. The contents of the memory seem to be a collection of personal logs, of various description and styles. Hoshi says she thinks they used to be called "webpages" or even something called...what was it, "flogs"? Regardless, these journals apparently were stored where others could read them across Earth's primitive global information network. The variety of opinions and viewpoints is astonishingly diverse - it's no wonder they nearly destroyed each other in the Eugenics Wars and World War III.

Following is a report on the contents of the memory module - only fragments remain, and are disjointed, but each of the people who wrote these journals seem to have been part of some kind of Alliance known as the "Rocky Top Brigade". We're running this term through our historical records, but as everyone knows details from that time are sketchy.

Entry #1 is short but seems to be regarding a matter of great import to the author, Deb of Sugarfused: "Quitting". She seems to have decided to kick a bad habit.

Entry #2 is entitled, "Dear Governor Dean" from someone who calls himself Stoney at Rebel Yell. 21st century politics and morality seem to be a popular topic for discussion, and Mr. Stoney has decided to refer to a politician as a "gutless moron". 21st century slang is difficult to understand, but Hoshi is working on a primer for me.

Entry #3 comes from a flogger who calls himself SayUncle - Hoshi says that's an archaic Earth expression for "surrender". Hm. His post is called, "Second Amendment stuff" which I believe refers to the United States Constitution. It has to do with controversies surrounding individuals' rights to possess firearms at that point in history.

Hoshi informs me that the correct term is not "flogger", but "clogger". I apologize for the mistake.

Entry #4 is an entry from clogger Chris at Quiet Life entitled, "Currency Speculation 101". Financial science was apparently of very great interest in the 21st Century, judging by this record. It also seems people used finances to further political causes. Barbaric....

Speaking of barbaric, Entry #5 from Bjorn (this global net reached all the way to Switzerland at that point in history) called "Is acknowledging a higher power really that bad of an idea?" discusses mass graves and the effects religion has and has had on the formation of human governments. I would ask Ensign Mayweather what he thinks about this subject, but I can never find him.

Dr. Phlox informs me it's time for my physical. End of entry

...

Captain's StarLog: November 12, 2145. Captain Jonathan Archer, commanding USS Enterprise.

Continuing the report on the contents of the ancient human "Palm Pilot" found adrift deep in the Expanse...

Entry #6 seems to have been written by a ruling monarch of one of Earth's nations, Queen Medb. T'Pol has been as of yet unable to find this queen in the political database, nor venture a guess at which nation she rules. Her entry is entitled, "The Machine That Went Ping, Blah and Tick". It is the general concensus of the research team that the poor Queen may have been insane because it seems to detail a treatment for a brain disorder that went terribly wrong.

Entry #7 was submitted by one known only as Bugly. His/her post is called, "Good food thats good for you..." and details a snack food that seems to have popular at that time - something called a "Doonut" that was available in rest rooms. I don't understand this one, but Lt. Reed seems to find it very interesting...

Entry #8 is entitled, "Poisonous Politics" from Mason at The Southern Reporter. Again, politics was very important to people of the era and it's been postulated that some people even worshiped their elected leaders. There are even some radical historians who suggest they even broke up into political "parties" that were worshipped by the leaders themselves and proved to wield more power than the people they purported to serve. This concept has generally been considered preposterous and fanciful by most historians. Still, this post may lend evidence to the idea that not all of Earth's leaders were good, just and moral.

Entry #9 is a heartwarming post that demonstrates they allowed even people with low intelligence to make their views known. The poor fellow they designated Big Stupid Tommy submits his story of the time he heard something called a "zinger": "The Best Thing I've Heard Anybody Ever Said to Anybody Else". Archives suggest a "zinger" was also a snack food at that time in history, so perhaps it has something to do with the "Doonut" mentioned earlier.

We're a bit confused as to the meaning of Entry #10 from Guy Montag entitled, "My Dollars for Sharpton Effort". Could humans running for government office actually have accepted currency for political favors? This would on the face to be as absurd a concept as "political parties". But then again, nothing's that far-fetched.

Entry #11 is from Peggy of A Moveable Beast, and is called, "25 DEGREES OF PROCRASTINATION". This Peggy seems to have a fascination with horses, as there are several images that were salvageable. She seems to have trouble beginning a project...

Goodness, Hoshi informs me again that they were in fact not called "floggers" or "cloggers". The true designation of these people was, "Fred". I have congratulated Ensign Sato and will recommend her for promotion.

Entry #12 comes from an interesting Fredder called Hatamaran who seems to be a great philospher or expert on human mental health. She has posted an analysis entitled, "it's only natural... " that discusses something called "dissociative identity disorder". The terminology seems even to be beyond that used now in the 22nd century. Could this Hatamaran be a time traveler? That's next on T'Pol's things to discuss with the Vulcan Science Academy.

Hmm. I think Porthos wants to be fed. Where'd I put those space biscuits? Pause recording...

...

Captain's StarLog: Supplemental. Captain Jonathan Archer, commanding USS Enterprise.

Bad Porthos! Bad, bad Porthos - I just had my carpet sub-molecularly cleaned!

Entry #13 is actually two entries from the same person, CJ of Up For Anything. The first is called, "See What Stealing Gets You?" and has to do with one of the popular sporting events of the day, football. I've never understood the appeal of football - it's nothing like a good water polo match. The second post is again about politics, "Liberals Hate Conservative Minorities" - could there be an unknown virus at work that causes political obsessions among 21st Century Earth's technical elite? Perhaps Hatamaran brought it back from the future in order to destroy humanity in the past. Worth checking into.

Entry #14 seems to have been almost hopelessly garbled - even Hoshi is unable to fully clear up the recording. The best she can make is it's from someone called Buddy Don of Wandering Hillbilly and the post is entitled "'Dinner with ole friens of buddy don: a evenin full of coincidents". All the text in the entry is garbled as well. That's a shame, because he was probably a good old boy.

Entry #15 is entitled, "Those wacky Republicans" from Manish at Damn Foreigner. I believe judging from this article one leader of the late 20th century was not important enough to have a motion picture created about him. We do have one of this leader's movies in our archives on board ship, and we all love the funny monkey.

Entry #16 comes from a former member of the armed forces, Democratic Veteran. His entry is entitled, "OMG - Hearts and Minds redux" having something to do with a minor military squirmish that happened in 2003.

Entry #17 was the last entry we were able to salvage. Barry from Inn of the Last Home discusses a recent trip with Tennesee Theatre Association 2003 Conference - Part 1 and A Great Opportunity.

That's all we got. It seems obvious that humans of that time period were passionate about certain ideals and went to great lengths to express their viewpoints - sometimes with satire, sarcasm and the occasional "zinger". It's a good thing that here in the future humans have evolved past that. But there may have been hope for these people, as well.

Archer Out. End Recording.

...

Captain's StarLog: Supplemental. Captain Jonathan Archer, commanding USS Enterprise.

Trip has discovered what seems to be a temporal rift forming just off our port bow. Sensors picked up another memory module floating out of the rift - it appears to be identical to the one we salvaged earlier, and T'Pol and Hoshi have been able to download its contents as well. More entries may be recoverable:

Entry #18 is from Fredd-- stand by...

...

Hoshi has revised her terminology once again - the proper designation for these online authors is not, in fact, "Fred" but seems to be "Roto-rooter". I am extremely sceptical about this latest interpretation, so I've decided to just call them a random name...oh, I don't know...maybe "bloggers". Yeah, that sounds good. Continuing..

Entry #18 is from a blogger name Les Jones - his entry is entitled Longmire and chronicles Mr. Jones' hero-worshipping another blogger. I suspect both Mr. Jones and Mr. Longmire have been affected by the insanity virus brought back in time by Hatamaran. Apparently it also causes a strange romantic longing for firearms in Mr. Jones as well, which I also noticed in SayUncle's writings. Strange.

The Human Adventure is Just Beginning

My Baby

Covenant Health At the Mall Brings High-Tech Health Info to West Town

"Covenant Health’s newest community service, located at West Town Mall near JC Penney, might be described as “one stop shopping” for good health. It’s also innovative, informative, and interactive!"

A Great Opportunity

Well, here's the highlights of the rest of the Tennessee Theatre Association Convention for me:

• Co-adjudicating the High School Scholarship auditions.
  The TTA awards a $500 scholarship to a Tennessee high school senior who goes to any in-state college or university. The students prepare a 2-minute monologue and audition for us. The one whose monologue shows the most skill wins. This was interesting - I'd never done anything like this before, and there ended up being about 20 kids. Some seniors, some juniors - the juniors were ineligible for the scholarship, but encouraged to audition for the experience - but all with relative skill levels.
  
  
• Plays, Plays, Plays
  I didn't get to see many of the performances, but there were 5 colleges, 8 high schools and 3 community theatres that brought shows and performed over the course of the weekend. All were judged and presented scores at the end of the festival. Bearden High School from here in Knoxville won their competition, so kudos to them. I did get to see my wife's alma mater, Lambuth University, perform a funny show called "On the Verge".
  
  
• Nothin' Dirty Going On
  The best part of the weekend is that I was able to get this job that I talked about before... I will be musical directing a staged concert version of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" with the Royal Palm Players in Boca Grande, FL this coming February. Refer to the aforementioned article for the details of how the opportunity came up, but they will be flying me down, paying a salary and providing housing for me in a condo on the beach. Looks like my family will be able to join me for several days as well.
  
  I received the music in the mail, and while I was initially a little nervous - I play the piano, and play it pretty well but it's mostly by ear and I'm not great at interpreting full scores - I was pleased to see that it's basically from one of those "singers editions" of the show, and not the actual accompanist score. I.e. it's not difficult to play, and allows for a lot of improvisng which, if you've seen the movie or the show, you'll know that most of the songs are fast-paced, rock/country kind of numbers. One drawback - the music only includes the melody lines, and no chorus parts, which means either they'll be coming separately or I'll need to arrange the chorus parts myself. This is no big deal, really, and I'd look forward to doing it - especially since I have several months to get it done.
  
  Anyway, I can't wait to sit on the beach in South Florida in February while everyone's freezing up her in Knoxville :)

And that's the way the beach ball bounces...

State of Tennessee 2, City of Miami 0

Quotes of the Weekend:

"It's war. They're out there to kill you, so I'm out there to kill them. We don't care about anybody but this U. They're going after my legs. I'm going to come right back at them. I'm a ... soldier.''

-- U. Miami TE Kellen Winslow, Jr. after Vols 10-6 win Saturday


"As for my reference to being a soldier in a war, I meant no disrespect to the men and women who have served, or are currently serving, in the armed forces. I cannot begin to imagine the magnitude of war or its consequences.''

-- "U. Miami TE Kellen Winslow, Jr.", aka U. Miami Sports Information Office



"We couldn't run it, and we couldn't throw it. That is not a good combination.''

-- Miami Dolphin QB Brian Griese, after Titans 31-7 win Sunday

whistling in the dark

go vols.

don't get me wrong I'm ecstatic. judging by the last time the volunteer nation celebrated after a huge win - an upset win at florida in 2001 resulted in the vols losing the next week in the sec title game - i'm going to wait till after the season is over to truly celebrate the vols 10-6 win over miami.

so, golf clap for the vols then back to business against miss. state, vandy and kentucky.

yay.

Smack-Dab in the Middle

Via One Hand Clapping:


You are Psalms.


Which book of the Bible are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Random Passing Thought of the Day

Zell Miller has been making the talk show/news show rounds heavily these last few days, promoting his new book, A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat. He was even on the Rush Limbaugh show today, with whoever was hosting this week.

My thought - given this guy's appeal to both the left and the right...is he gearing up for surprise Presidential run?

If others have brought this up already, I apologize, but I haven't seen it speculated anywhere yet.

This Just In....

Wal-Mart Receives Target Letter From U.S.

"Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Tuesday it has received a "target letter" from the U.S. Attorney's Office saying the world's largest retailer allegedly violated federal immigration laws."

In related news, Target has announced it too received a letter, this one addressed to K-Mart.

K-Mart could not be reached for comment.

That's the news! Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

Bach'in it

My wife's in Charleston (hi, L!), my kids were at the grandparents last night - so I had the night free!

No strings! No ties! Free as a bird like my ol' bachelor days!

What wild, exciting thing did I do last night? What hedonistic trouble did I get myself into? What dire predicament did I stumble upon that required calling the police, the national guard, 6 squads of Marines and two Cub Scout Troops?

Er, um, nothing really. I ate dinner at Savelli's, rented "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" and did laundry.

Man, I'm getting old.

P.S. I've ordered a new graphics card for my home PC which should be here in a couple of days. Hopefully it will solve my video problems and I can continue my TTA story soon. Work is ok for light blogging but I feel guilty about spinning a big yarn, even if I am just waiting for my logfile tracking reports to run.....

Oh, by the way - L, if you're reading...I ordered a new graphics card. Just thought I'd let you know....(ahem)

O, John Ward, Where Art Thou?

Tennessee beat Duke Saturday 23-6 for homecoming. Boring game, team not good, yadda yadda yadda - I'll let others comment on the Vols themselves, but there's another facet of the UT game-day experience that bears some close scrutiny.

Now it's not my style to criticize, especially when the object of criticism is out of my field, but the current University of Tennessee football radio host, Bob Kesling, needs to have some serious reconsideration of his abilities as a play-by-play announcer.

Kesling, while a good sportscaster and speaker, clearly has deficiencies when it comes to calling a football game. In Saturday's game, for instance:

• His descriptions of the plays lack accuracy. Several times he would say something similar to, "He's hit at the line and slides forward for a couple of yards", when in reality the running back got 6-7 yards. You're expecting 2nd down and 8, and all of a suddent it's actually 2nd and 3. Big difference when you're trying to follow the image in your head.
  
  
• This didn't happen as much last night but it's been a big problem since he first started five years ago - getting the name of the running back or receiver wrong. Now I know it's tough sometimes to see the number of the ball-carrier in the piles of humanity but the Vol Network has spotters that are supposed to help him with that sort of thing. Worse is when the player is in plain sight, such as running in the open field. If #11 James Banks catches the ball and is sprinting toward the end zone, it's confusing and unfair to the players to hear Kesling give another player credit for the catch/run. Even when it's obvious who's got the ball, he doesn't correct himself until much too late.
  
  
• After Tennessee went up 16-6 in the 4th quarter, numerous times he said the score was 16-10 (apparently he knew in his head there was 10-point lead and misspoke). Of course, there's a big difference in football between a 10-point lead and a 6-point lead, and when the game is only on the radio without the benefit of a TV or scoreboard in front of you, it's misleading. Again, he never actually corrected himself or made it plain he had gotten the score wrong.
  
  As I said above, Kesling has spotters that feed him names and statistics from time to time. You'd think that they would also give him a hand when there's been a glaring error, such as a consistently incorrect score. The only answer I can think of is that he's very strict about not being corrected and has created an atmosphere of "the big guy's always right" in the Press Box. That doesn't quite follow his public image of an affable, fairly genial kind of sports guy so it's difficult to reconcile, but I don't know how else to explain.

There are other examples, but it would be a bit excessive to sit with pen and paper and try to catch them all. And it's not the worst thing in the world, but when you follow a favorite sports team you'd like to expect the play-by-play man to be accurate at least 95% of the time. But Bob is not, unfortunately.

The ghost of the Voice of the Vols, John Ward, looms heavily over UT radio broadcasts (well, not literally - Ward's still very much alive) and it's impossible to measure up to such a legend. Trying to follow a legendary coach or actor is always difficult and you are never able to satisfy everyone. I've always respected Bob Kesling as a sportscaster and a local personality, but it's just getting difficult to listen to the game on the radio, when you can't be confident that what you're hearing is what's actually going on down on the field. And that's a shame.

Child of the 80's

That's definitely me - started High School in 1980, graduated college in 1989. Couldn't plan it any better.

Pop Music Quiz at Sugarfused - guess the missing words to the 80's lyrics!

I scored a 52.25%, although for some reason they deducted 30% because of when I was born (like I'm to blame for the 80's? I just lived in it, I didn't create it. Ok, I did have a pair of parachute pants and a white blazer, but that's all!!). Anyway my read adjusted score would be 74%.

Quote of the Day

"The Twenty-First Century's kind of like the Twentieth Century, except everybody's scared and the Stock Market's way down..."

-- Lisa Simpson

TTA Conference Report Will Continue Soon...

My PC at home still has graphic card disease, and it's difficult to write long stretches of text. I'll get back to the report as soon as I can, promise.

Fulmer Rumors

Calm down, move along....nothing to see here...

The big bad rumor that UT Coach Phil Fulmer was resigning today at a 4:15 Press Conference due to personal scandal had more hot air in it than under a Brodie Crowell pass. It was an update on ill player Chuck Pugue.

Everyone continue breathing, and resume your normal lives.

And to those who started the rumor, which apparently flew fast and furious all over the South today - pppppptttttttthhhhh!!!!! Jerks.

UPDATE: The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that UT AD Mike Hamilton has gotten wind of this rumor and issued a statement:

"Over the last several days, and even more prevalent today, there have been a number of rumors indicating that Phillip Fulmer would be resigning as head football coach in a press conference to be held Thursday, Oct. 30.

"Obviously, those rumors have no sound basis. Coach Fulmer in no way has indicated any intention of resigning his position. Credence appeared to be given to such rumors because of a special media opportunity held Thursday regarding Chuck Prugh and his first meeting with the football team following his acute illness.

"Dr. (Joe) Johnson (interim UT president) and I have the utmost confidence in Coach Fulmer's leadership and we step forward at this time to dispel any misinformation you may have heard about his leaving the University of Tennessee.''

Now, of course, the rumor barons will a) pass this off as the classic "vote of confidence" from the owner before the coach is given the boot, or b) be assured that Fulmer chickened out on the announcement and will either stick it out or do it at a later date. Neither is correct, of course, but their "sources" will continue to provide "inside" information "straight from the Athletic Department". One wag I noticed online got their information straight from their wife, who (let's see if I get this straight) works with Fulmer's daughter-in-law and contacted the Athletic Dept. for more information. Another was told by a prominent -- PROMINENT, I TELL YOU! -- athletic department contributor that he should be in front of a TV around 4:15 for the big announcement.

Right.

These so-called "sources" are never right, because most of the time they either don't exist, have bad information themselves, or are pulling someone's leg.

So remember, your "sources" may not always be correct - be patient, and the real story will likely come out in the end.

After all, it only took 40 years for this to finally be laid to rest...

Volunteer Tailgate Party - Vol. XIV

Tommy of Big Stupid Tommy is hosting the latest Volunteer Tailgate Party, a bi-weekly compilation of the best and brightest blatherings of the Rocky Top Brigade.

This week he's featured the cast and crew of the RTB in his version of his favorite television-inspired holiday family party, Festivus.

Tennesee Theatre Association 2003 Conference - Part 1

First some definitions:

The Tennessee Theatre Association is Tennessee's official advocacy and informational organization for the theatrical arts. All state colleges/universities, secondary schools and community theatres are invited to join and participate. TTA presents an annual conference that brings together these groups from all around the state to perform, audition, attend workshops, and network with like professionals and amateurs from all levels of the art.

I have a BA in Theatre from the University of Tennessee, and as long-time visitors to the Inn know I still participate in theatre activies in East Tennessee, mostly at the Oak Ridge Playhouse. I'm a director, musical director and actor primarily though I have dabbled in accompanying and sound design. I love theatre, and I love drama in many forms. If you've never attended a play or haven't in a long time it's an experience that will stay with you for a long time - frequently longer than your average movie-going experience.

For a long time I've wanted to be more involved than just the hobby level - I do have a degree in it, after all - but work and family responsibilities have not allowed me to do more than one of maybe two shows a year. A good friend of mine who lives in Knoxville is the president-elect of TTA, and in the course of conversations he offered me the chance to design the TTA website. I agreed, and in the course of designing the site I realized that the organization was a perfect way to become more involved in the theatre business without sacrificing a lot of my already small but extremely valuable free time. He mentioned that there was an opening on the Board of Directors for an East Tennessee Representative - basically someone who keeps in touch with the various theatrical groups in East Tennessee, and serves as their liason, advocate and communicator to and from the organization. I jumped at the chance, and began serving a two-year term back in the summer.

The Conference is the highlight of the year for the Association, and most of the annual activities and plans are based on this conference. As I said before, there are competitions, auditions, and an atmosphere of networking and fellowship among people who love theatre and the theatrical arts. This year the conference was held in Clarksville, TN on the campus of Austin Peay University.

My friend, Les and I left last Wednesday afternoon (the 22nd) and drove straight out there. There were a few early birds that arrived early like us - the Conference didn't officially start until the next day - and we spent the evening having dinner and getting ready for the big weekend.

Our hotel was the Quality Inn. Um, an interesting place - some of the hallway floors weren't level, apparently due to some sinkholes, or perhaps the San Madrid fault, I'm not certain, but we would walk up a rise, then down a slope, then lean to the left, then the right...well, you get the picture. It was all the fun of walking drunk, but none of the hangovers.

Les, as President-Elect, is in charge of the whole Conference and as such was constantly checking on last-minute details: accomodations for attendees and special guests, badges, registration, etc. He's an Electrical Engineer by trade and has a lovely wife, a 1-1/2 year old son and another on the way and the poor guy was so stressed his stomach was bothering him for the first three days of the conference. I felt sorry for him, and was planning on helping with registration as much as possible but being a rookie I didn't have a lot of prior experience. I wish I could have helped more, but I was able to learn as I went.

Next up: Thursday, Day 1 (officially). Sometime later this afternoon....

UPDATE: Oh, one more thing. We stopped at the Nashville airport on the way down to pick up an adjuticator who was flying in from Florida by way of Charlotte. All the play festivals are judged and a winner is announced later in the conference for each category: community, college/university, and secondary schools. They are graded and commented on as well, which helps improve their performances. The adjuticator we picked up is the Producing Director for a community theatre on an island in Florida near Sarasota. On the drive to Clarksville, we got to talking about my background, and how I have musical directed several shows. She mentioned that she was needing a musical director for "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" for two weeks in February, and would I be interested? Well, the offer was to fly me down, put me up for 2 weeks in a condo on the beach, pay a salary and it wouldn't even be a full production but a staged concert - me playing piano and a pre-cast group of players to do the show. I said that sounded very interesting, and I'd love to talk some more about it later. Ohhhh, yes. We'll talk about it later. Absolutely we will talk about it later!

TTA Conference

If anyone's interested in hearing about my trip to the Tennessee Theatre Association Conference this weekend, let me know and I'll blog about it. It was an interesting trip.

And the Winner Is...

The award for Concept That Has Long Outlived its Usefulness goes to...

Switching back and forth from Standard to Daylight Savings Time.

I will step out the door from work today and it will be dark. Darrk (or almost dark). At 5:30.

There are two - and only two - advantages to switching back to Standard Time in the fall:

1) Extra hour of sleep Saturday night/Sunday morning (this was great when I was a kid and could sleep another hour before getting up for church, less big of a deal today).

2) It's relatively dark and spooky on Halloween.

Other than that...that's it. You have malaise and depression thrust upon you every evening going home - little time for enjoying that brief hour or so after work to run around outside with the kids, rake the leaves if necessary, walk the dog without tripping over...well, you get the picture.

No, now it's:

a) Wake up!
b) Go to Work!
c) Come home from Work!
d) Bedtime!

Or so it seems. There's no advantage whatsoever to switching back.

Therefore, I propose we stay in Daylight Savings (which is a non sequiter any more - you're not saving daylight, you're preserving it) Time all year round.

Ok, I just thought of a third advantage to the time change - changing the batteries in your smoke detectors. But that's supposed to happen both in the spring and the fall, so it doesn't really count

Who's with me? Abolish the old Standard Time, preserve daylight as long as possible!

Seasonal Affective Disorderlies of the World - Unite!

I am Federal Agent Jack Bauer. And today is the longest second-longest third-longest day of my life

24 starts its third season tonight, sans commercials thanks to a generous grant from the Ford Foundation. Or Company. Whatever. Anyway, go buy an F-150 to show your gratitude...

24 Official Website

Official Discussion Group (pretty good)

and Danielle from Missives Anonymous will be watching. I will too, at least after the kids have gone to bed and assuming I set the VCR correctly.

Tivo - bah. Who needs it when you have a VCR?

Call for Hosts

Rocky Top Brigade members wishing to host the Volunteer Tailgate party please contact me at innofthelasthomeinsolace@yahoo.com.

Check out the updated calendar at the top right of the page, or just go to http://calendar.yahoo.com/innofthelasthomeinsolace.

The next available slot is November 27th (as of this writing).

Thanks!

See Ya

I'm headed to Clarksville for the 2003 Tennessee Theatre Association Conference. Be back Sunday. Looks like I may be adjudicating some of the high school auditions, which sounds like fun....

Don't do nothin' while I'm gone.

Why We're There

I'm no political or military expert. I don't even play one on TV. But here's my two cents worth on why we are, and should remain, in Iraq.

Bill Hobbs says:

"The flypaper is attracting the flies.

A taped message purporting to be from the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden declares for the first time that Iraq is the new battlefront in the jihad against the US.

Beats having them bringing the jihad to our shores. Much better for the jihadis to come to Iraq to be killed by the American military than to fly planes into buildings in New York.

Isn't that the bottom line of the "we're losing 2 soldiers a day over there since the war's over - we have to get them out of there!!" debate?

We're fighting a war against an army of militant fundamentalist Islamic terrorists, which number in the who-knows-how-many thousands. They've proven they can and will attack America on our own soil. If our armed forces have a chance to combat them away from American soil, and reduce their ranks on a daily basis so that the chances of other terror strikes against the US is diminished, how is this different from any other armed conflict we've engaged in in the past?

The liberation of Iraq - lack of real resistance notwithstanding - was much more like the traditional war. An invasion, territories attacked and held, people freed, battle lines drawn and re-drawn, inexorable push toward a geographic destination and achievement of a goal - the ouster of the Saddam regime. This task was finished in a couple of months. Now Iraq has become a new battleground where American troops fight those who've been co-opted into the fight by their ideoligical leaders, and are keeping them from traveling to American shores. This is an unfamiliar battleground - on the surface it doesn't make sense to see servicement falling for what seems to be no reason. But soldiers die in battle, just as surely as if it were a push up the beaches of Normandy, across Guadalcanal, or guarding the progress of freedom in Iraq - only the tactics of the enemy is different. We've had to take the attack to them, on their soil, on their terms.

That said, we must be able to see progress...

South Knox Bubba sez:

"What I want to hear is that either the situation is secured or our troops are coming home."

(...)

Otherwise, save all your "things are going great in Iraq" bullshit, or better yet tell it to the families of these people, especially the ones who died after George AWOL Aviator Bush declared victory on May 1st.

I don't believe the job could possibly be over now, even if we wanted it to be. There's no way the situation could possibly be secured, nor could or troops come home. The area is still too unstable, and the potential risk is too great to leave now.

Every day that there is not another terrorist attack on American interests is another day of victory, but it can only be a partial victory if every day does not also see hope and building for the future in Iraq. Setting up a free, noncorrupt and stable government in Iraq will be extremely difficult and tedious, but it will be a very important step toward lessening the tension. Again, it has to be above-board and honest - something people are looking for, and that the US boasts of in its "charter" but has been seen in short supply in practice. We must be true to ourselves, and to what the US is really all about.

And then, nothing succeeds like success - if the future terrorists in the Middle East see how the people of Iraq can improve their lives by viewing it first hand, maybe that will give them less reason to believe in and join the jihad. And that will indeed be a victory.

Kinda Sad

I went to O'Charley's today for lunch, the first time I've been back to one since the Hepatitis A scare a month ago.

I didn't go to Turkey Creek, but the one in Alcoa near the airport that's close to where I work. At lunchtime, it was only about 1/2-full and a lot of the wait staff were standing around looking for something to do. In fact, they were going out of their way to be courteous and welcoming. Probably under instructions from the management to make O'Charley's more inviting and friendly than ever.

I had no problem going there and there's no real reason I hadn't gone before now. But it was sad that half of Knoxville is still uptight over a problem at one restaurant that, as it turned out, had nothing to do with the cleanliness of the employees or the food or utensils themselves. It was a bad shipment of onions.

I like O'Charley's, and I hope business picks back up for them soon.

Radio

I had the good fortune Saturday evening of attending a Knoxville sneak preview for the movie "Radio", starring Cuba Gooding Jr. Mr. Gooding was in attendance and spoke to the crowd gathered at Knoxville's West Town Mall Regal Cinema.

I've only seen Cuba in a couple of movies, "What Dreams May Come" being the one that comes to mind first. I was quite impressed with his warmth and spirit.

The movie was good, and a tearjerker in parts. It tells the true story of a mentally handicapped man who for the past thirty years has been an assistant football coach for a high school in Anderson, SC. I thought it was very similar in tone, structure and even dramatic "beats" to another recent high school football movie, "Remember the Titans".

If you're planning on seeing the movie, I won't spoil it but if you do, come back and tell me your opinion of the coach's relationship with his daughter, and how you think the movie might have improved on that aspect of the story.

Spammed...?

A lot of bloggers had their comments spammed recently.

(Looks down at his mostly-empty comments sections)




I'm not sure whether to be relieved or insulted...

Volunteer Tailgate Party - Vol. XIII

Les Jones is hosting the latest Volunteer Tailgate Party, a bi-weekly compilation of the best and brightest blatherings of the Rocky Top Brigade.

Broken Hearts

Any UT Fans who are also Cubs fans can't take much more of this....

1) 99 yard fumble return for Georgia at end of first half to take 20-7 lead into the locker room

2) 8-run 8th inning for the Marlins after the Cubs were 5 outs away from going to the series.

Game 7 tonight....

You Gotta Believe.

Welcome to the Rocky Top Brigade

Big RTB welcome to the newest Brigadiers:

SemiPundit, Evil Hippy at Filthy Hippy Speak, Diana at Beyond the Whispers and Jay at Drawing Dead,

Put Me In, Coach

To the world's biggest baseball fan, SayUncle, and all you other fans out there:

Ball, strike, out, safe, foul, single, double, triple, home run, first, second, third, home, outfield, infield, pitcher, catcher, hitter, batter, left, right, center, suicide squeeze, bunt, pop-up, fly ball, grounder, Spring Training, Opening Day, All Star, diving catch, play at the plate, "Holy Cow!", "What's interesting here...", the Babe, Mick, sandlot, in the dirt, four-bagger, around the horn, bases loaded, ducks on the pond, double play, triple play, riding the pine, off the bench, pinch runner, pinch hitter, designated hitter, inning, wins, losses, saves, Pete, Earned Run Average, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, Sandy, Ted, "if you build it, they will come", Little League, "Walk of Life" video from Dire Straights, Jackie, Cal, sacrifice fly, hot dogs at Fenway, Budweiser at Wrigley, sushi at Dodger Stadium, "...and DOWN the stretch he comes!!", Johnny Bench, hit and run, double steal, extra innings, Mr. October, bottom of the ninth, runners on the corners, fast ball, slow ball, slider, curve, change-up, eephus, knuckler, Neikro, "K's", The World Series, The National Anthem, "Take me out to the Ballgame", low and away, high and inside, brush-back, bean, bench-clearer, balk, walk, strike-out, hit-by-pitch, cut-off man, rounding third, relaying the throw, making the tag, out at home.

Glove, bat, ball.

Kids.

Put Me In, Coach, I'm ready to play.

Love Thy Neighbor, Even if it is Rush Limbaugh

One of the signs of a mature soul is to be concerned about your enemies.

I don't like Rush Limbaugh. I don't like what he stands for, I don't like his ideas, his scruples or his attitude.

But I hope he recovers from his Oxycontin addiction, because he's a man, a human, an American, and all people deserve to improve their lives and put their past behind them.

If it causes them to make changes in their life - great. I hope he's able to be enough of a man to learn something from the addiction, the recovery, and the legal troubles.

If he doesn't, well that's his fault and his loss.

But caring for others because they're people and not just because you agree with their politics is one thing that makes us human.

To wish for his early death, or trouble in prison, or any of the other things I've heard advocated on other sites - that's unconscionable. And you should be ashamed.

We're trying to help the Iraqis build a new country, by showing them the best things about America and Americans. Why would you expect someone to emulate an American when the examples they see aren't ones of compassion, understanding and forgiveness but scorn, vengeance and hatred?

And if you profess to any Christian values, you'll realize your teacher never scorned, hated or wished revenge, but forgave.

Even if you don't profess to Christian values, those are pretty good lessons from a pretty good teacher.

Cubs Up 23 Games to 12

Just continuing to keep ya posted...

Um...Never Mind.

Full night of shut-eye opens door to memory

"A study found that sleep apparently restores memories that were lost during a hectic day.

It's not just a matter of sleep recharging the body physically. Researchers say sleep can rescue memories in a biological process of storing and consolidating them deep in the brain's complex circuitry."

I was going to say something really remarkably insightful and interesting about this, but I forgot what I was going to say.....

No Severance For You!

UT trustees rescind Shumaker's severance package

'The University of Tennessee trustees unanimously rescinded a severance package for former President John Shumaker on Friday after a state comptroller's investigation suggested Shumaker violated state law.

Sounds like a coach suspending or dismissing a player from the team who's just been charged with a crime. Not convicted, not even indicted - just charged. While the evidence may be overwhelming, as of now the investigation "suggests" that state law was broken.

'Gov. Phil Bredesen, who's also chairman of the trustees, recommended the board scuttle the severance deal that he helped negotiate.

"Given the fact that I don't believe he was truthful with us, I no longer feel any personal obligation to support the package," Bredesen told the board.'

You think he lied, therefore you're breaking your end of the deal. Why does this sound like Bredesen was planning for something like this all along, and only negotiated the wacky severance deal in the first place to buy time?

'"In misrepresenting his actions, Dr. Shumaker may have violated Tennessee statutes that require public officials to cooperate with auditors and that prohibit tampering with or fabricating official records," the report said.'

Again, "may have violated." Is there something wrong with the judicial system in Tennessee that they can't wait until the case is tried in court? Y'know, legally and stuff?

'The UT Foundation hasn't taken any action on the severance. Jim Haslam, the foundation chairman and a trustee, said all the foundation board members unanimously believed they were "under no legal obligation to pay anything and will not pay."'

Nice to know the board doesn't feel obligated to uphold their ends of deals. Isn't something like a severance package a binding contract - at least in the abstract?

Ok, Shumaker was a rat, and I respect Bredesen - I still believe both those things, but this whole severence package rescindment just smells of something that was hoped for and planned for way back when. Maybe they had real reason to believe Shumaker'd be accused of breaking the law and never believed they'd have to go through with the payment at all. Regardless, demonstrating that state agreements and contracts can be broken at a whim does not settle well. It's not fair, and it's not just. Not in the legal system that I respect.

Walking in Darkness, Looking for the Light

Here's a report on how badly the Reconstruction effort is going in Iraq

I dare someone to fisk this with any degree of authenticity and accuracy, based on multiple eyewitness accounts and not on hearsay.

L. Paul Bremer - Coalition Provisional Authority Administrator - Press Conference Opening Remarks

Sample excerpts:

Note: "6 months ago" does not necessarily mean after the war - in many cases it means before the war, i.e. when Iraw was still under Saddam's control

Six months ago there were no police on duty in Iraq.

• Today there are over 40,000 police on duty, nearly 7,000 here in Baghdad alone.
  
• Last night Coalition Forces and Iraqi police conducted 1,731 joint patrols.

Six months ago there were no functioning courts in Iraq.

• Today, for the first time in over a generation, the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent.

Six months ago the entire country could generate a bare 300 megawatts of electricity.

• On Monday, October 6 power generation hit 4,518 megawatts—exceeding the pre-war average.

Six months ago nearly all of Iraq’s schools were closed.

• Today all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open, as are nearly all primary and secondary schools.

During the 1990’s Saddam cut spending on public health by over 90 percent with predictable results for the lives of his citizens.

• Today we have increased public health spending to over 26 times what it was under Saddam.
  
• Today all 240 hospitals and more than 1200 clinics are open.
  
• Pharmaceutical distribution has gone from essentially nothing to 700 tons in May to a current total of 12,000 tons.
  
• Since liberation we have administered over 22 million vaccination doses to Iraq’s children.

Six months ago there was no freedom of expression. Satellite dishes were illegal. Foreign journalists came on 10-day visas and paid mandatory and extortionate fees to the Ministry of Information for “minders” and other government spies.

• Today there is no Ministry of Information.
  
• Today there are more than 170 newspapers.
  
• Today foreign journalists and everyone else are free to come and go.

Six months ago Iraq had not one single element—legislative, judicial or executive-- of a representative government.

• Today in Iraq chambers of commerce, business, school and professional organizations are electing their leaders all over the country.

We are also aware that the progress we have made is only a beginning. A quarter century of negligence, cronyism and war mongering have devastated this country. Such profound damage cannot be repaired overnight.

Could all these things be happening with active resistance from most Iraqi citizens? No. Could all these things be happening without at least the tacit support of most Iraqi citizens? Again, no.

Attacks are happening, yes. Terrorists and Ba'ath-controlled militants are still resisting, yes. But they do not, nor did they ever, represent the people of Iraq. For every serviceman killed, he or she has likely traded their life for dozens of civilians who would have been killed for actually thinking or acting incorrectly.

There's an old story - a soldier is in a raft with a civilian. There's only enough food in the raft for one person - is it the soldier's responsibility to give up his or her life to "save" the civilian, or does he or she take the chance on living in order that they might stay alive to "save" dozens or even hundreds down the road. What's the soldier's responsibility?

One answer is that it's their sworn job to protect the people they've been assigned to protect. That if they can't - or are not willing - to protect one, then they can't do that job for many. Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one? It's a goofy old sci-fi quote, but it's a relevant question. Do the needs of the one outweigh the possible needs of the many?

By staying to protect the people of Iraq, and show what kindness, justice and democracy are all about - even at the sacrifice of soldier's lives - we are showing them one possible answer to that question.

"For the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light..."

Hat tip to Simmins by way of Sofia Sideshow

Recall Redux

My one and only post regarding the California election. Ready for it? Here it is - don't blink or you'll miss it:

This time next year the gears will be in motion for an Arnold recall.

Bank on it - it will be going.

Hey, I'm 3 wins away from the Cubs prediction coming true! Wait'll you hear my prediction on the Volunteers season: 4-1 by 10/10. Mark it down - ooooh, he's good ;)

Thank you

Brainyboy does not have pneumonia. Just a funky viral infection....

Thank you!

Bad Ad! Bad Ad!

SayUncle has some advice for Knox County parents protesting a suggestive perfume ad appearing in Seventeen magazines currently available in local school libraries: Get over it.

Some Knox County folks with no sense of humor are upset about ads for French Connection United Kingdom:

A group of Tennessee parents are livid about a teen magazine ad for a company known for its provocative acronym, FCUK. Clothing store company French Connection United Kingdom ran an ad for one of its perfumes in Seventeen magazine, which is available at several Knox County public school libraries in Knoxville, Tenn.

Some parents were so outraged that they complained to school officials, prompting at least a dozen schools to review all their magazine subscriptions.

First of all, you're correct - pressuring schools to cancel subscriptions without process is not the right way to deal with it. Like boycotts, all this harms is innocent rank and file employees - in this case the employees of magazine publishing industries.

However, there's nothing wrong with parents being comfortable with what magazines their kids are exposed to in schools, and expecting the schools to be able to justify the decisions on what magazines they subscribe to. If they carry "Seventeen" and not, say, "National Geographic" or "Discover" then there's a disconnect somewhere....

Hate to break this to you guys, but kids are exposed to stuff at every turn (cable, billboards, the internet) so it is up to you parental types to deal with it.

Well, at least they are dealing with it - better than ignoring the problem altogether. If you intend "deal with it" to mean "get over it," then, no - not when children are concerned.

I understand most of you can't deal with that and have to blame magazines, libraries, and crappy perfume. Take care of your own mess.

They are trying to do something about a bad message being presented to their kids. If you understand the whole story of the ad, it's not just the acronym that's objectionable but the fact that there's a photo of an obviously teenage boy and girl in various stages of undress, sitting next to each other on a bed. The word FCUK is printed below them, with a caption explaining that the kids were "Scent to Bed."

Nice.

It's simply the wrong image to send to a teen - and the fact that they're confronted with these images from all sides, as you say, is exactly why a stand needs to be made. They are "dealing with it", and "taking care of their own mess".

Yes, the tactics need to be refined. But the will is there and the recognition of the bad message is there and that's a positive thing.

Example of what not to do:

Minnesota (St. Paul) Group Plans Boycott Over FCUK Brand

"A parents' group based in St. Paul is threatening a boycott of Target Corp. and its Marshall Field's stores unless the company stops carrying the controversial line of clothing and fragrances.

C'mon, people. It's not Target's fault, it's not Marshall Fields' fault. There's probably nothing wrong with the product itself - it's just perfume for goodness sake. This is not where to apply the pressure, and the only thing that might possibly succeed is that Target and Marshall Fields rank and file minimum-wage employees get their hours cut. Yeah, that's progress.

In another article, there's good and bad at the same time:

Kaufmann's pulls racy fragrance ads - 50 stores in four states respond as customers turn up noses at displays

The Good:

The department store chain also will stop mailing racy advertising circulars that feature the scent, but Kaufmann's stores will keep selling it, said Robin Reibel, a spokeswoman for the Boston-based retailer.

"We are sensitive to our customers' comments,'' Reibel said.

Kaufmann's said it received numerous calls complaining about the signs, displays and advertising inserts. The complaints intensified after Akron Beacon Journal business reporter Mary Ethridge discussed the fragrance in her Mad Shopper column Friday.

(...)

Karyn Halpern of Akron said she's thrilled the department-store chain has decided to stop advertising the perfume.

"I got the flier in the mail, and I thought, `Where are their brains?' '' she said from her Akron home.

"I think they have to be responsible for what they put on display and what they sent out to people's homes,'' Halpern added.

(...)

"If they want to sell it, that's fine. But those big signs aren't necessary,'' [father of 3 Brian] Keel said.

The Bad:

Eva Buhite of Wadsworth said just selling it is going too far.

The grandmother said she canceled a subscription to a teen magazine that runs FCUK ads. Next on her list is a boycott of Kaufmann's for selling the perfume.

"They really hurt themselves big time by doing this,'' she said. ``If my granddaughters go in there and I see it, I'd probably stand there and bust every bottle.''

Some people get it and some people don't.

Panic

My son lost another of his baby teeth last night. It's old dad's job to, ahem, you know...do the that silver- dollar thing that dads do. Except in our house it's Gold Sacajawea dollars. Anyway, BrainyBoy (v7.6) has lost about seven baby teeth so far, and once again it was my responsibility to, um, do that thing. He put the tooth in a Ziplock bag and put it under his pillow, and went fast asleep.

I stayed up to watch some of the Colts-Bucs game, then went to bed.

Notice what's left out of that sequence of events?

This morning, GiggleGirl wanders into our bedroom about 6:30, starts chatting with my wife. I roll over and lightning strikes me right between the eyes.

I FORGOT !!!!

I leap out of bed, struggle to extract myself from the covers - my wife's dumfounded at my antics and is worried something's really wrong - I say, "Tooth! tooth!" and make vague gestures toward BrainyBoy's room and downstairs where the coins are stored. Since GiggleGirl was in the room, I couldn't actually say anything, I just made odd noises and movements for a moment, and fled.

"He's already awake - his sister's been talking to him" I hear from my wife behind me...

I then hear movement from BrainyBoy's room - he's moving around, rattling the rails of his bunk bed.

Hurry!! Down the stairs, to the kitchen - open the cabinet, pull out a coin from the secret hiding place, rush back up the stairs....

*Creak* *Rattle*as he climbs down the bunk bed ladder. I walk nonchalantly toward his room, expecting any moment to hear a cry of dismay as he checks under his pillow...

Nothing so far - I am cautiously hopeful.

We pass in the hall. "Morning, Fred." "Morning, Ralph."

He ambles toward our bedroom. I nonchalantly continue toward his as if I do this every morning. Which I don't - I'm usually still catching a couple more z's.

Into his room, around the bed, grab the Ziplock bag - drop the coin in, fumble inside for the tooth - there it is! Replace bag - no time to Ziplock it back up! Walk calmly out of the room back down the hall. I have the tooth in my hand - no pockets in a pair of boxers - and peacefully set it up on the top of my computer desk, out of sight, to put away later.

Back in my bedroom, back into the bed. The kids are there watching TV, my wife's getting up to take a shower. I plop back in the bed. My wife looks at me from the door to the bathroom - I give her the "OK" sign.

A few calm minutes later, I ask him, "Hey, don't forget about your tooth..."

BrainyBoy (eyes on TV): "Yeah, I know. I'll check it later..."

Breathe, Barry, breathe...

Blatant Discrimination?

Ashe: KUB needs black woman

"Two men interested in a vacancy on the KUB board of commissioners have withdrawn after receiving a letter from Mayor Victor Ashe that he intends to appoint a woman. The woman is likely to be black, he said.

The term of Gloria Ray, KUB chairwoman, is expiring. While the mayor has told Ray he intends to replace her, she's applied for another seven-year term.

(...)

The mayor said the reason to replace Ray is "so more persons may serve." He also wants to replace a woman with a woman "because if a man is named then there would only be one woman serving on this important board which sets the tax rate for water, gas and electricity as well as manage this vital system," he said in his letter.

Ashe said he sent the letter to all those he identified as "having a male name." Of 27 applicants, that would appear to be 16.

All right, if I were hiring for a new assistant, and I made it public that I was only hiring a woman and that males need not apply - not only do am I not going to hire a male, I'm not going to hire a white female. And apparently, I'm proud of this fact, in the name of "diversity".

How is this not a major discrimination, Equal-Opportunity Employer, lawsuit-waiting-to-happen kind of story???

I know Ashe has had a long-standing feud with Gloria Ray (who hasn't he had a long-standing feud with? Oh yeah, Jack Sharp.) and makes no bones about the fact he's not going to hire her back, but should a lame-duck mayor ethically make this important a hire in his last months in office? What's to prevent Haslam from reversing whatever decision Ashe makes the moment he takes office (besides the obvious)?

I can't see anyone in the private sector making this kind of announcement and getting away with it.

One more thing, I respect Georgianna Vines as much as I understand the politics she writes about (which isn't a lot, but she helps make it a little more understandable), but am I the only one left uncomfortable referring to black people with the single noun "black"? To quote:

"When Ashe took office, there was one woman and one black on the board. During his four terms, three women have served at the same time while at the moment there are two. There is one black man.

Notice she uses the noun "black" to refer to a mamber of the board. Later in the same paragraph, she uses "black" as an adjective, i.e. a descriptor - a "black" man.

Am I a "white"? No, I would consider that a bit demeaning and separating. I'm not defined by my skin color, rather it's a descriptive part of me. Do we refer to Native Americans as "reds"? Of course not.

While I don't think Vines meant any harm, I believe it's a colloquial hanger-on from times past that just hasn't quite evolved its way out of the vernaculer yet. I remember my grandmother referring to them as the "blacks", but don't hear it much anymore - especially from people under 30.

It's an expression that needs to die out, and soon.

The Case Of Encyclopedia Brown's Mangled Corpse

This is just sad and tragic....

Idaville Detective 'Encyclopedia Brown' Found Dead in Library Dumpster

'Police discovered Brown's badly beaten, nearly decapitated body after the detective failed to respond to routine radio check-in calls. Pages from Brown's battered casebook, which contained such cryptic entries as "Whales are mammals, not fish," and "Dinosaurs and cavemen did not live at the same time," were found stuffed in the detective's mouth.'

It's rumored that famous Bayport detectives Frank and Joe Hardy are headed to Idaville to investigate this dastardly crime.

Cubs Win! Again!

The Atlanta Braves are my favorite team, but this is the year of the Cubby...

I remind everyone again of my opening day prediction - Cubs in the Series.

All they need is four measly wins against the Marlins, and they're in the Series.

Now, almost as important: the Red Sox are a win away from playing the Yankees for the AL crown. Could we have a Cubs/Red Sox World Series??????????

Armageddon. Yikes, better start stocking up on canned goods and duct tape again...

Blogstreet Profile

Move along, nothing to see here.

New Rocky Top Brigade Members

Welcome to the latest members of the Rocky Top Brigade: Eric the Straight White Guy and Rex at Rexblog

Volunteer Tailgate Party - Vol. XII

Brian at Resonance has the latest Volunteer Tailgate Party, a bi-weekly compilation of the best and brightest blatherings of the Rocky Top Brigade.

I didn't submit anything in this one since blogging's been light due to my occasional absences, but read the rest!

Conversations

(Myself and GiggleGirl, sitting in traffic waiting on a train to pass)

Me: C'mon, train....let's go!

Gigglegirl: Yeah, c'mon train! Move it!

(A few minutes of fruitless waiting)

Gigglegirl: C'mon train - hurry and get out of our way, or I'll kick your butt!!

(Pause of incredulous silence)

Me: What did you say???

Gigglegirl: mumblemumble

Me: What did you just say??

Gigglegirl: getoutofthewayorI'llkickyourbutt...

Me: E, I don't want to hear you saying that, you know that. That's not nice...

Gigglegirl: Ok....

Me: Ok.

(A sad, secret part of me wanted desparately for her to say, "or you'll kick my butt", after which I would have recovered from apoplectic fits of laughter I would've had the greatest blog ending ever. But alas, I see she needs more instruction in the snappy comeback. Gotta work on that.)

(Oh, and establishing that trains do not in fact have butts. They have a caboose (at least some of them do). Now if she'd said "I'll kick your caboose!" that would have lived in the Halls of Fame for many generations to come.)

"Barry, Mr. Eisner is on Line 2"

Glenn has a touch choice:

"CNN called to ask if I'd debate [the media and Iraq] on Paula Zahn's show tonight, but I suggested that they call Jeff Jarvis or Jay Rosen instead. I haven't heard back, so I guess one or the other will be on (8:30 ET, I think), no doubt doing a better job than I would have.

Instadaddy's dropping names so fast they're shattering on the floor and making a mess on the carpet. How many people turn down a chance to offer commentary on CNN? Heck, I'd appear in a panel on the expanding habitat needs of New Zealand aardvarks if they asked me....

R-i-i-i-i-i-n-g

Oh, wait, I've got a call...

"Hello? Oh, hi, Mr. Irwin. How're things down under?--"

(I'll finish this up later...)

Would You Rather....

(Carried over from Master of None)

1. ... have super strength, or super speed?

2. ... be able to read minds, or be the greatest orator to have ever lived?

3. ... be a vampire or a werewolf?

4. ... give up the internet, or give up solid foods?

My answers are in the comments....

Exuberance

Today GiggleGirl is four years old.

And from the moment we first saw her this morning, she never stopped letting us know...

"I'm four years old! I'm four years old! I-i-i-i-i-i-i'm FOUR YEARS OLD!!! Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me...."

Happy Birthday, darling :)

I'm back

Did I miss anything?

Walking

Light blogging until next Monday.

I'm going on an Emmaus Walk starting Thursday around 6, and I'll be back Sunday night.

Basically, the Emmaus Walk - and Donald Sensing could probably explain it better than I can, since I've never done it before - is a:

'...spiritual renewal program intended to strengthen the local church through the development of Christian disciples and leaders. The program's approach seriously considers the model of Christ's servanthood and encourages Christ's disciples to act in ways appropriate to being "a servant of all."'

I've talked to several people in my church who have been, and for them it was a life-changing experience.

Several men, praying, witnessing, and learning how to walk closer with God. I may be a different person when I return - I hope so. I plan to write about it, if I can find the words.

Anyway, those of you who are inclined to please pray for me - the rest, think of me fondly as I miss the Florida game. Pull the Vols through!

See you Monday.

P.S. It's quite possible that sometime this weekend someone will become the 10,000th visitor to Inn of the Last Home. To that person, and all the others who've visited since I started in January, I thank you.

What's Really Going On

Two great posts:

1) Donald Sensing of One Hand Clapping dissects Bin Laden's Strategic Plan.

2) Michael J. Totten does a different kind of dissecting as he Fisks, folds, spindles and mutilates Ted Rall's latest chickenscratching. And that's insulting to the chicken...