ACK I Hardly Knew Ye

Actually, I never even met Adam Kleinheider but, damn, this really sucks.

ACK and I were on opposite sides of the political spectrum on most issues, but I think he did one helluva job over at Post Politics. Sure, there were the occasional posts that got my goat, but they were rare. The thing I appreciated the most about ACK’s work at Post Politics, aside from all the great links, is that most of the time he was fair.

I read Post Politics all through the day. It was--is--was--my “one stop shop” for Tennessee political news. Losing a job in this economy and in this discipline sucks big time. So ACK, I hope you land on your feet.

And my heart also goes out to the other SouthComm employees, faceless and nameless to the local blogosphere at this point, who also got sacked. I don’t know who you are but I feel your pain.

How Many More Civil Wars Must We Endure?

I find it absolutely hilarious to learn that I’ve been "pretending” to be a liberal all these years.

It also appears the Great Orange Satan has revoked my Liberal credentials and the checks from George Soros will no longer arrive in the mail.

Oh, drat.

You know, it’s really funny that someone named “Big Tent Democrat” has now decided that Jim Cooper and a handful of local bloggers aren’t liberal enough for the Democratic Party. The irony of it all.

It’s also funny that suddenly, in certain progressive circles, none of us want to see Cooper primaried and we all think he’s "just peachy.”

Actually, if anyone bothered to read the local blogs they so happily diss, they’d know that Aunt B, GoldnI and yours truly have all said we agree that primaries exist for a reason. Specifically, I said on Friday:

But fine, let’s primary Cooper, that’s how our system works. I have no problem with that at all. Let’s find our dream candidate, send him or her out there, and see if their message resonates with the constituents. Especially constituents in Belle Meade, Cheatham County, Wilson County. Places like that. Good luck.

So, to TalkLeft’s Big Tent Democrat who said

What are these "local experts" afraid of?

let me say: absolutely nothing. And if you’d read my blog you’d know that.

I also don’t know anyone who thinks Cooper is “just peachy.” Frankly I know few people anywhere who think their House representative is “just peachy.” We’ve all been critical of Cooper on our blogs. Again, you might know that if you’d bother to get to know the community before unleashing the attack dogs.

And therein lies the problem.

I really think a lot of the internet drama part of this saga has less to do with Jim Cooper and bloggers’ liberal-progressive bonafides and more to do with tone, tactics and cultural differences. I think what really set Kos and the rest off is being labeled “interlopers.” Well, sorry, but that’s how it feels. An out of state PAC has targeted our district for regime change and as soon as we voice some valid concerns we’re embroiled in a flame war? Maybe if I’d known you were coming I’d have had the chocolates and roses handy.

Seriously, let me tell you a little something about Tennessee: we don’t like being treated like a bunch of hicks from the sticks who don’t know what’s good for us. A friend who is a Nashville native observed of this whole Cooper mess:

Haven't these people learned by now that you don't FORCE Southerners to do anything?? How many more civil wars must we endure?! :-)

Here’s another thing about Tennessee: I’ve lived here for 23 years and I still hear, “Y’all aren’t from around here are you?”

That’s just how it is and maybe if anyone had bothered to do a little more groundwork than just a few telephone surveys you could have avoided some of this negativity and resentment. You know, taken a more “grassroots” vs “scorched earth” approach.

Look, you aren’t engendering any goodwill by dividing the community. I sure as hell don’t like it when the hall monitor for the progressive movement suddenly decides I need a note from home before I can express an opinion about who represents me in Washington. So Kos needs to stuff it because if your grand plan fails you get to go back to Berkeley and your ex-Black Panther House Rep and two Democratic Senators. I will be stuck here with my two Republican Senators, a Republican state legislature, and (worst case) a Republican congress critter. We've seen how the state has gone the past few years and it hasn't been leftward.

Those Wacky Kids & Their Ethernets

Bows in bars? The “Archery Foundation” demands 
equal rights:

The Archery Foundation is pleased to announce that next January Rep. Stacey Campfield (R‐Knoxville) and Rep. Brian Kelsey (R‐Germantown) will sponsor landmark legislation to allow law abiding archers the right to carry their bows and arrows into Tennessee’s fine eating establishments.

The “Bows in Bars” bill will ensure that all of Tennessee’s law‐abiding citizens are provided equality of protection throughout the state. Like current concealed handgun permit holders, Archers will be able to apply for a “carry” permit, though due to the size of most compound bows and arrows, it’s not practical to “conceal” them.

“The Archery Foundation is pleased with the leadership shown by these fine legislators and looks forward to working with them in the future to ensure the rights of law abiding archers”, said Johnathan Comlatly, Executive Director of The Archery Foundation of
Tennessee.

LOL. There’s a disclaimer at the bottom of the faux press release--I admit I missed it the first time, though it’s obvious this is a hoax.

Meanwhile, local folks on Twitter have been amused by the Tweets of someone named FakeTNGOP, who is mostly still pining for ex-TNGOP Communications Director Bill Hobbs.

Comedy gold.

It’s Just The Free Hand Of The Market

Goodbye, Pajamas Media, hello angry, out of work bloggers:

We free marketers aren’t complaining that the business model failed. We’re upset (well, I am, at least) that the outfit was run into the ground by those who, to this day, can’t even articulate what it is they hope PJM to become, and who wasted the talents of a lot of popular average Joes in order to pay marquee names to post choppy versions of already syndicated columns — all in a complete 180 from what we were told PJM was about when we signed on.

ZOMG, the "popular average Joes" have a beef with management? Hilarious! Hey, maybe you guys should form a union.

Not only have you been bitch-slapped by the free hand of the market, you've been screwed by a conservative elite who only give a crap about "popular average Joes" when they can be trotted out as stage props to bolster the GOPs phony-baloney populist message. You've been had, and the sad part is, you don't even know it.

Paging Joe The Plumber! Hey, is he back from Gaza yet?

A New White House

... and a new WhiteHouse.gov website, which now includes a blog.

Check it out, they want to hear from you.

Who Is Amy Broadhurst?

She’s the one leading Big Coal’s blogger brigade:

You can get into the debate. If you are interested in becoming an active member of ABEC’s Blogger Brigade just send me an e-mail to abroadhurst@balancedenergy.org and let me know you’re interested. One of our team members will give you a call and walk you through the process. It’s really easy – and for those of you who don’t already Blog, it is fun! You can join the online debate that’s already going on and you and others can remain anonymous (if you want to) at the same time! We’ll even set up a little competition to see how many Blog entries each person can make.

Oooh sign me up!

I guess it’s not enough to spend millions of dollars a day on public relations and lobbying:

We estimate that the coal and oil industries spent an astounding $427.2 million over the first six months of 2008 to influence public opinion and public policy.

Seems like that money could have gone to a better use, like maybe figuring out a better to dispose of dirty coal ash.

Amy is driving the Big Coal propaganda machine because it's her job, and also, as she writes:

All the visibility we’ve had this year has made the American public more receptive to clean coal. Read how our recent survey shows record levels of support for American coal.

Public support translates into regulatory success. Thanks to your help, a new clean coal plant bringing affordable electricity to consumers is going online in Arkansas.

Thank you, Amy Broadhurst! Here are some pictures that didn’t make it onto her Fickr photostream:





Blog that, beeyatch.

(h/t, Wonk Room)

Tyson Plant Revises Holiday Plan AGAIN

After catching flack from the Muslim-haters in outter wingnuttia for changing its holiday policy to accommodate Muslim workers, the Tyson plant in Shelbyville, TN, has changed its policy yet again.

ThinkProgress calls this a "cave” to the wackadoodles and forces of darkness. But this actually looks more like a reasonable holiday plan to me:

[M]any anti-immigrant groups and right-wing bloggers called for a boycott of Tyson, saying the contract betrayed an important American holiday and was an improper concession to Islam.

In a news release on Friday, Tyson said it had asked the union to revise the plant’s contract and restore Labor Day as a paid holiday because some Shelbyville employees had expressed concern about the contract’s provisions.

The revised contract again makes Labor Day a paid holiday but also keeps Id al-Fitr (pronounced eed-al-FIT-tr) — which marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting — as a paid holiday for those who want it.

So those who want to take off Labor Day can, and those who want to take off the Muslim holiday can. So what’s the problem?

Of course the Malkin-tents are going to claim another victory, but hey, look at it this way: we liberals can snicker at them for defending a holiday with communist/socialist origins founded by the evil labor unions.

Hilarious!

Embarrassed By My Fellow Tennesseans

Not all of them, mind you. Just the ones who are venting some serious anti-Muslim spleen over the Tyson Plant in Shelbyville.

The plant’s management negotiated with the workers union to allow the largely-Muslim workforce to take off the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr instead of Labor Day. Everyone should be happy, except for the anti-Muslim wackadoodles who can’t seem to get over the fact that a) there are a lot of Muslims in Shelbyville, TN; and b) the plant’s management is actually doing something to make their Muslim workers happy instead of, I dunno, flogging them daily and forcing them to eat pork rinds.

Over the weekend Kleinheider did a round-up of some local bloggers’ opinions. Some of the saddest ones include this one from Michael Hurtt, headlined “This Is How It Starts”:

This is a frightening example of incrementalism, the process by which groups achieve partial means to an ultimate end. For those who believe that the current fight in the Middle East is religious in nature, this concession by Tyson brings us one step closer to accepting Sharia Law as the law of the land in the U.S.

First they came for Labor Day, and because I had to work at the mall on Labor Day I said nothing ....

The funniest thing is to watch “free marketers” struggle as their economic philosophy does battle with their bigotry. For example, Six Meat Buffet:

On one hand I’m torn. A private business should be able to give everyone 365 days off a year if they want. On the other hand, replacing Labor Day for a holiday to placate the most violent, intolerant, misogynistic religion on the planet may not be the greatest idea.

Why, what a shining example of tolerance you display in that comment, SMB! Thanks for making my point for me.

The fact that most of the Muslims working at the Tyson plant are refugees from a war-torn country seems entirely lost on most conservative voices. Several people have wondered how so many refugees ended up in Tennessee to begin with. You can thank the State Department and its Office of Refugee Resettlement for that.

One of the things I have always treasured about this country is that we are a safe haven, a beacon of hope, to those suffering in poverty and strife in other parts of the world. Not, apparently, in Tennessee.

This makes me very sad. And I can't help but think what a poor image this gives the world of Tennessee. We're already perceived as backwards, racist, uneducated and toothless hayseeds. Today, GoldnI highlights that media narrative which brought CNN to Copperhill, TN to find people who believe Barack Obama is a Muslim. She rightly points out you could find those people anywhere in this country. But a rural town in Tennessee is where CNN chose to go for its story. Gee, I wonder why.

So Tennessee gets another black eye. Our backwards image can't be good for business--who would want to move their corporate headquarters to a state like that? And it's something we constantly have to fight.

Remember:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I guess I missed the “except if you’re Muslim” line in that poem.

Our Political Discourse

Oh woe is me. Someone let the teeming masses into the ivory tower and it's the end of the world as we know it.

At least, that's my take on Salon.com's interview with law professor/author Cass Sunstein, author of Republic.com 2.0, the follow-up to Republic.com. The article is titled "The Internet is making us stupid," which should give you an idea where Sunstein stands on the whole blogging/internet phenomenon.

In a nutshell, he thinks the “echo-chamber” aspect of political blogs is killing democracy. It’s bad for America, he says, because it further entrenches people in their political views, and makes them more extreme -- be they on the right or the left.

For example:

There's a book, "The Long Tail," by Chris Anderson, which celebrates the "niche-ification" of the world. I like the book -- I should say, I think it's a very good book -- but what's amazing to me is the extent to which Anderson and the Internet enthusiasts really can't even see a problem and can't see the individual and social benefits of being exposed to stuff you didn't choose.

Well, I’m going to challenge Sunstein’s premise here. Internet blogs do not exist in a void, they’re almost always responding to a news story or cultural phenomenon or something else from the traditional media or the outside world. Some blogs do original reporting, it’s true, but most do not. This is why I get annoyed when someone complains about my “reporting” or says I’m a lousy journalist. On Southern Beale, I am not a reporter and I’m not a journalist. I may commit the occasional act of reporting, but 90% of the time I’m just a blogger expressing an opinion; here’s the link to the story, go read it and come up with your own opinion.

I think what Sunstein is really complaining about is the partisan nature of blogs. He’s saying blogs are not objective. But who said they’re supposed to be? Traditional newspapers and journals have offered partisan editorial opinions since forever. A Rasumussen survey from this July shows conservatives overwhelmingly believe the media has a liberal bias, and liberals believe the media has a conservative bias. I really don’t think this is the fault of blogs; I think this is the fault of a lazy, profit-oriented media that keeps getting the big stories wrong, which frustrates engaged citizens on both the right and left.

All of this sounds suspiciously like traditional media complaining about a busload of riffraff who crashed their country club party, overturned the Chivari and spiked the fruit punch with a shot of Chateau Tuesday.

Sunstein is ringing the alarm bells about “self isolation breeding polarization,” and yet I really don’t think we’re all that isolated. What we do have on the internet is a lot more people representing a broad slice of America engaged in the conversation in a very public way. I guess that’s threatening to some people, but it should be embraced. "Regular" Americans have always had an opinion about these issues, we just never had a chance to throw 'em back in the face of the opinion-makers before. Well, genie's out, folks, and it ain't going back in that bottle.

America’s been through a tough decade. These are polarizing times, and I don't think the internet made us this way. I think we're being shaped by the events themselves, not the technology we have at our disposal. We had a president impeached for a blow job, an election decided by the Supreme Court, attacks on our homeland, and a foreign war sold to us on faulty evidence. Our communities are fraying and our Constitution is being redefined--some might say torn apart--as we watch. It’s laudable that the nation would want to digest these things, discuss them, hash them out, instead of blindly accepting the opinions of some self-appointed "elite." We're part of the conversation now; get used to it.

Viva la internet.

Ask Your Doctor If Hiatus Is Right For You

I was sad to read that Sean Braisted is taking a break, and even more worried when he mentioned the dreaded “personal issues.” I hope the recent discussion over at Music City Bloggers in which he was voted “hottest male blogger” didn’t have something to do with it. Be well, kiddo.

Seriously, blogging is a deceptively easy addiction. It’s incredibly cathartic, but before you know it you’ve got Audrey from “Little Shop of Horrors” screetching “feed me! feed me!” every morning. You have to give yourself ground rules. One of mine is that it’s okay to put aside the politics and just go with pictures of the cats every once in a while. Hey, they’re cute, we’ve got eight of ‘em, and it’s about time they started pulling their weight around here.

I started this blog on May 12, 2007. My hope was to get my political fix for the day so I could devote the rest of my writing energy to my book, which I’ve been working on for two years. It hasn’t worked out that way.

I had no idea anyone would read this blog; that anyone does amazes me. I’m not ready to throw in the towel. The truth is, if I weren’t writing this blog I’d spend my days commenting on someone else’s blog. I do enough of that already.

But I’d be interested in hearing how others manage blogging with “the real world.” Does blogging interfere with your "real life," and have you ever had to pull the plug? Did you miss it?

Conservative Bloggers Hatin’ On Ron Paul

This was a surprise: a survey of right-wing bloggers by Right Wing News ranked Ron Paul their least favorite rightie. Obviously none of our local bloggers participated in this survey.

The survey seems hardly scientific, since 225 bloggers were asked to participate and only 45 did so. Maybe the others were waiting for their marching orders from the Central Office.

On second thought, maybe hating on Ron Paul isn’t that much of a surprise, since Paul is the non-establishment candidate from the right. It’s always struck me that right-wing bloggers are for more connected to the Republican Party than liberal bloggers are to the Democratic Party. Spend 5 minutes on a liberal blog and you’ll hear a barrage of insults about “spineless DINOs” and threats to unseat them all. The right wing blogs seem far more likely to spout the party line.

Anyway, the survey says the top five righties on conservative bloggers’ hating list are:

1. Ron Paul
2. Pat Buchanan
3. John McCain
4. Michael Savage (tie)
4. Larry Craig (tie)

If I had to take a guess about the top 5 liberals that liberal bloggers hate, I’d say:

1. Hillary Clinton
2. Harry Reid
3. Nancy Pelosi
4. Harold Ford Jr.
5. Ralph Nader

Joe Lierberman would be number one but people on the left don’t consider him a liberal anymore. Neither is Hillary Clinton, several bloggers inform me, despite the fact that she’s seeking the Democratic nomination. Well, that’s what I meant when I said leftie bloggers aren’t as connected to our political establishment as right wing bloggers are to theirs.

Baby, You’re No Good

Roger Abramson shares his thoughts on why some blogs are no good (and h/t to Kat at Music City Bloggers).

Roger has some good ideas; for example, he’s right when he says “For the most part, the media (or, MSM, if you prefer), really doesn't "get" blogging, or the Internet, for that matter.” He’s absolutely correct. But why should they? How many television producers “get” book publishing? OK, maybe that’s a bad analogy, but what I’m saying is, they are different formats that serve completely different functions.

But I think Roger is wrong when he says this:

I do think that the most well-known (and most hated by bloggers) media criticism of blogs—that they could use editors—holds water. Because, well, this is the truth: most blogs are not very good. Many just plain stink. Really. Now, don't look at me like that. It's true. And the fact is, you know it too.

I think this argument only works if you are expecting blogs to be something that they're not. Which means, maybe Roger doesn’t “get” blogging any more than the MSM does.

Blogs are not news outlets. Yes, many serve as such, and a lot of us use them as a source of our daily news. But at their root, that is not what blogs are.

Blogs are diaries. And some diaries will be no good. Like, the dorky diary I wrote when I was 13 years old and filled with angst about why didn't Jon Safell like me and I poured my heart and soul into really lame poetry with names like “Diamond Face” and “Summer Sunset.” Yeah I’m sure someone would have said, “get this girl an editor” if anyone had read it. But, thank God, no one did.

The blogosphere is a collection of diaries, which you can choose to read or not, as you wish. It is a format for the open exchange of ideas. It’s a conversation, and you don’t need an editor to have one of those.

So that’s why I don’t think Abramson’s criticism of blogs is especially relevant. His main criticisms are that some blogs lack perspective, originality, are boring and filled with poor writing, and the blogger is “a pompous ass.”

I say: so what? It’s a diary, get over yourself. I’m sure my blog has suffered from all of the above and more at one point or another, and I’ve only been around a few months. So what? It’s my diary. If you think it’s boring, pedantic, pompous, etc., you don’t have to read it. Some days I feel boring, pedantic, and pompous.

Abramson’s advice to bloggers and the media is pretty spot-on, though:

“Being a blogger doesn't mean anything other than you have access to and write a blog.” Agreed. I think it’s pretty cool that technology has advanced to where we can have this kind of conversation, though.

"Bloggers rarely break stories." True again. Also, I would remind Abramson that as diarists, we aren’t supposed to. Sometimes, though, the “breaking story” is just doing the legwork and connecting the threads that a journalist on deadline failed to do.

“The media is not your enemy.” Again, agreed. But one of the boring, pedantic, pompous issues I blog about is the media’s deterioration from being an information source to its current state as a source of entertainment. There are a lot of issue-oriented blogs, better ones than mine, that have the same concern. And by golly, we will blog about it. We will point out the lack of real information offered by the MSM, and how those of us desperate for news are forced to find alternative sources to get informed. And I do think bloggers’ criticism of the MSM for this failure is the reason we see a lot of anti-blogger criticism back at us.

The MSM loves to point out that “bloggers aren’t journalists.” No, we’re not. We aren’t supposed to be. But if you people would do your fucking jobs, we wouldn’t have to be.