Carol Chumney appears on 98.9 tomorrow morning

Just heard from Carol, she is going on the morning show at 98.9 FM with Ken Kincaid and Andrew Clarksenior tomorrow from 6:30 to 8:30 A.M.; Listen in and call in so she knows she's not alone against the righties!  (Heh, Andrew is not as right-wing as he would appear; I know this from our two appearances on WREG last year!)

A couple of new blogs are out there!

First, I welcome my friend Diane to THE ENDLESS BLOGROLL with her blog, THE BOREDOM FACTOR, it's about everyday life and her musings on it.

Next, we have the amazing Susan Wilson with YEAH, AND ANOTHER THING. Seriously, put her on your RSS feed, she is fantastic.

And last but not least, we have I LIVE IN A PLACE CALLED NORMAL.  The writer of this new blog is gifted, talented, and needed a place to put his non-political, non-musical posts.  Yup, it's mine.  Now, you may say, DUDE, YOU DON'T POST HERE ENOUGH, YOU CREATED ANOTHER BLOG??? 

Yes, I did.  Love it!  Hope to see you over there soon!  Don't worry, I'm not leaving you here; this has just been a horribly lackluster political season and not worth writing about.  More later!

Thank you, Ozzie!

Per his request, Ozzie Guillen has been released from his contract as manager of the Chicago White Sox and is expected within in the next few days to be named manager of the Miami (formerly Florida) Marlins just in time for their new stadium to open in 2012.

He led the Sox to their first World Series Championship in 88 years in 2005, and to another AL Central title in 2008.  However, he and General Manager Kenny Williams had not seen eye-to-eye over the last few years, and when the Marlins kept making overtures, one knew it was only a matter of time before this happened.

Ozzie, we will miss you, and good luck in Miami.

Wow, Read these posts

Both Vibinc and Polar Donkey have riffed on my post of yesterday, with amazing and terrific results.  Go read each one now!

What a cheap political stunt!

I got a call from a friend this morning asking why people aligned with the Democratic Party would vote for a referendum that essentially ties the hands of the city on tax increases.  I got up, read this article and got pissed off, quickly.

You know, I expect Kemp Conrad to propose crap like this, that's why I am voting for Paul Shaffer.  And I would expect Bill Boyd and Reid Hedgepeth to be his Greek Chorus in support.  However, the fact that Bill Morrison, Shea Flinn and Jim Strickland voted for this Proposition 13-like garbage enrages me.

By doing so, gentlemen, you put this vote on RACIAL lines; if I had Photoshop,  I would put all of you in seersucker suits with string ties.  And Bill, after getting help from TEP and then voting against NDO, you're dead to me.

This amendment would tie the hands of the city and ensuring its death.  Bill and Shea, you probably voted for this knowing it would not pass, attempting to appease your white voters; that's too cynical for words.  Jim, you're not even opposed in this election, what the hell were you thinking? 

Let's let Brad Watkins tell us about it:

Brad Watkins, organizing coordinator for the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, said a two-thirds requirement would make it virtually impossible for the council to approve a tax increase.

"The fact is, it's hard enough for you guys to get seven votes for a tax increase," said Watkins.

We are still going to need tax increases and revenue increases whether you like it or not; if I had my way, we would have a payroll tax to put on those who live outside Memphis but work here.

We have cut all we can cut, and the fact that this cheap political stunt was supported by supposed "Democrats" is infuriating, to say the least.  Now, it looks more like they are just white folks.

What does Marsha Blackburn do now?

Somewhere, Marsha Blackburn is cursing and throwing things.  Why, you ask?  Because Senator Lamar Alexander just announced that A) he is resigning as Chair of the Senate Republican Conference and B) he is running for re-election in 2014.

With the likelihood of the House flipping Democratic in 2012, and now TWO incumbent GOP Senators and an incumbent GOP Governor standing in her way, it means the loudmouth from Brentwood is stuck in the House as an irrelevant GOP representative after 2013.  Is Blackburn ambitious enough to go Tea Party on either Corker (2012) or Alexander (2014)?  If she wants to move up, she may have no other choice.

And, if she DOES, that opens the door for a Democrat to capitalize on the GOP infighting and steal one of those seats.  Stay tuned!

No, this is NOT what I had in mind!

I'm shocked to learn that Ralph Nader was still alive!

Wharton will win, but vote anyway!

First, before you do anything, go read Vibinc. NOW.  I'll wait.

Did you read it?  GOOD.  It reminded me that I need to vote, no matter how disappointed I may be with the group of candidates in our elections this year.  If you're a Democrat and you thought you were too clever to vote for that Joe Ford for County Mayor last year, don't you feel like a dumbass right now?  You do?  GOOD.  Don't screw up again like that.

The lesson, as always? YOU CAN'T TRUST REPUBLICANS. EVER. FOR ANY REASON.  I wish our President understood that; I am beginning to wonder if he was a GOP plant, but, to paraphrase Alton Brown, that's another post.

So, here we are with EARLY VOTING beginning tomorrow, and we don't really have a lot of choices in our city elections.  First of all, it doesn't matter for whom you vote in the Mayor's election, AC Wharton is going to win and win big.  He could campaign in drag for the rest of the campaign and get 65% of the vote.

Here's why:  He will get 95% of the white vote and 60% of the black vote and that is far more than he needs.  Good things have happened under his watch, even though as much of it appears to be for show as for dough.  Simply put, no one that is running can beat him, and no one that COULD beat him is running.

I certainly understand the unions' frustration with him, but you know what?  You need to be getting ready with a candidate for 2015 NOW.  Ed Ford, SENIOR?  Really?????  Ed Ford, Junior, maybe, hell, yes, I would have voted for him, but not Ed Senior.

The fact remains is that the people, especially the WEALTHY ones,  love Wharton's smilin', stylin' and profilin' and the fact that he does what they want him to do and doesn't bitch about it like Herenton did toward the end of his terms.

Has it been all smooth?  Hell no, the guy he sent out to get bike lanes on Madison underestimated the opposition to it and inadvertently STRENGTHENED that opposition, and now they will be lucky to get shared lanes.  I like bike lanes, they have done wonders for Southern Avenue.  In order to achieve something like this, you have to build a consensus, which is normally a Wharton strength, but his guy screwed it up.

We got Electrolux jobs, but the way the deal appears to be worded, it looks like the taxpayers are paying for those jobs and not Electrolux.  Remember the good old days of REAL capitalism when private enterprise took risks without government subsidy?  Yeah, I know, what a pipe dream, eh?

Well, we need the jobs, so that helps.  Look, if you want to vote for James Harvey or Ed Ford or even Leo AwGoWhat, go ahead, it really doesn't matter.  I am holding my nose and voting for Wharton in the hope that groups can work with him and not just get lip service.

At this point, that may be all we can hope for.  More on the Council races later, gang! 

Inflation of a different sort

Yes it's me again. Here to talk about something in this city that is near and dear to my heart. Memphis Tiger football.

I think it't time for the program to be ended. There I said it. It is hard for me to say, but I think it is time that a program that has an athletic director who is to put it mildly, fucking clueless, to kill the one thing I like about my alma mater.

I am that rare thing in this city, a Memphis football fan, who is not a Memphis basketball fan. I like the basketball team, but my basketball loyalties lie with Duke, always have, always will, sorry. Thus, it pains me to say that the program needs to be put to sleep.

Since V. Lane Rawlins hired the incompetent moron R.C. Johnson to oversee the program, the arrow has pointed down. He kept Rip Scherer on a season or two too long. That said, he never gave him the proper tools to compete. Rip was a good ambassador as was his successor, they just never got a good realistic shot to succeed due to R.C.'s cheapness and inability to lead.

Tommy West had success. Never won the division, let alone the conference while possessing the best QB in school history and its best player in DeAngelo. Tommy fell prey to Jackie Sherrill syndrome, coach getting older needing to win to keep his job bringing in JUCO talent that is hit or miss and eventually missing and getting fired. Tommy said it all when he left, berating the department saying essentially the city and University didn't support him and needed to support his successor, otherwise we should quit. I agree.

But wait, you say, they just finished a new practice facility and locker room improvements. Sorry, those should have been built 10 years ago, a competent AD would have done so.

But wait, Memphis has never won. Sure, but we were at least competitive for years. Plus look at SMU-death penalty, lost for 20 years, hired a good coach, succeeding. East Carolina-always seems to do well. Cincy-done well. USF and UCF-no real history but doing well.

I come back to the title now. Memphis has an inflated sense of its place. We are a good, not great basketball team with the right head coach can be a consistent Sweet 16 team, every once in a great while a Final Four team. We are essentially Gonzaga.

The search for a head coach when they fired Larry should have told you all you needed to know about the ability of RC. Rather than reach out for a good young up and coming assistant at a major school, they hired Tic Price. The boosters essentially forced him to hire a competent coach in Coach Redacted. The result was we won.

RC didn't care about the football team though and the result was that we got shut out of the Big East expansion a couple years later. RC keeps trying to get us in, but with the Big East looking more and more like its going to have to merge with the ACC with the conference moves, why in the blue hell would they want a pathetic football school like Memphis? Football TV dollars are the driving force behind this. Not basketball. We will be stuck out in the cold in some merged conference that is CUSA and the remains of the Big 12, MAC, and other D1 schools left out in the cold.

I'm going to lay some blame at Shirley Raines' feet as well. If she gave two cares about the football team and the impact the dollars it could bring in, she would have joined the push for an on campus stadium. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, 25k fans in the Liberty Bowl looks awful, 25k in a 45k capacity stadium looks a lot better. It would have shown the commitment to moving the university forward. They still could have used the Liberty Bowl for some games when we played the SEC. Heck, we could go back to having a game the same day as the SHC and not worry about tailgating interference.

RC's incompetance will cost us Josh within the next few years as he leaves for a better offer. My guess would be Texas A&M or Texas would make a significant run at him. Larry Porter who at this point looks to be overmatched, will be most likely let go at the end of next year or the year after and we will be in the same spot we were two years. RC should not have had his last contract renewal.

We as Memphians deserve a University that we can be proud of. Sixteen years ago we were a solid number three in the state. In the area, we and Southern Miss were the best non SEC schools. Now we have been passed by MTSU in the state and UAB, Troy, Arkansas State, with Western Kentucky and Georgia State possibly joining them. Fire RC, replace him with a young assistant AD from the SEC or the Big 10. Give us a reason to hope again. Get out there and raise money from the corporate donors. Keep their money away from the SEC schools. Build a program we can get behind and get us into superconferences. Or just shutter the football program and walk away.

Three weeks? Really, Cracker?

Ok, I've been, well, busy.  I have a new woman in my life and she makes me happier than I have been in a very long time.  I am too busy enjoying these times to write right now.

Frankly, I look at the political situation and it depresses the shit out of me because evil is winning these days and we have a President too spineless to stop it, or even fight it.  I was hoping I had voted for a leader, and well, I got....well, I'll stop there before I get into trouble.

In other news, some of you regular readers might have turned to this page for a link to the 2011 Music & Heritage Festival schedule.  Well, you're not going to find it here.  Note that all links to the Center are gone; I parted ways with the Center in June, allowing them to move in the direction that a majority wanted but that I thought was potentially destructive.  For a good article about those times, I recommend Chris Davis' article in the Flyer.

Congratulations to Trace Sharp and Mike McWherter for their new website, Out of the Blue, it looks great. You will be able to find links to Democratic-leaning articles, as well as a place to sign up for THE DAILY BUZZ, which if you aren't receiving, you are missing out.

 Tonight, the Memphis football Tigers will open at home against Mississippi State.  For those of you who don't want to brave the huge throngs at the Liberty Bowl (note sarcasm), the game will be televised at 7 PM on SportSouth (Comcast 52 and 831-HD).

 I hope you have a great Labor Day weekend, I intend to; for the first time in years, it will not involve working a festival.  It's about time.  See you next week.