I Guess Tomeka Hart Believes Her Own Press Clippings

Because she has decided to take on the fool's errand of challenging Steve Cohen in the 9th District primary in 2012.

Really?  While I fully expect that North Memphis, Raleigh and Frayser will be added to the 9th District for the next decade, I have seen nothing to indicate anywhere that there is a groundswell to replace our current Congressman.

Does she have enough money to challenge Steve, who will have a serious warchest ready to go for any primary run?  Does she understand that the very same people who stood by her as she pushed for the MCS-SCS merger are very likely to also be some of Steve's biggest supporters?  On what issues does she feel Steve Cohen is deficient?

I want to believe that she is not going to run the same idiotic race-based campaign that sunk Nikki Tinker and Dr. Herenton; I want to believe she is above that, because, until this point, I have had no reason to believe otherwise.

Tomeka, you DO have a future in politics in this city and county; why hurt it by challenging Cohen?  Think about this before you go through with it, because it's YOUR career and no one else's career that will be hurt if you do this.

Andy Griffith vs. The PATRIOT ACT

With a hat tip to Jordan Huffman -

One more from Gil Scott-Heron

With a doff of the chapeau to the Pesky Fly....

RIP Gil Scott-Heron

He was 62.

Watch Bill Clinton Talk to Paul Ryan About SELLING US OUT on Medicare

Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks has the story;

The CA takes a Great Leap; is it into the abyss?

While Chris Peck had alluded to the prospect of some CA online content going behind a paywall back in January, the cat was let out of the bag by Mark Richens on Twitter Thursday afternoon:

@markrichensMark Richens

This is big. @memphisnews is going to a 100% paid model. only 10 free clicks a month. $9.99/mo. for full digital access.

Well, my response was quick and to the point , saying that I would miss them, or Calkins, at  least. Ok, my typical smart-ass response, although, to be truthful, I DO have problems with this idea,  Then I got this response from Jen Simmons, the stellar tweeter for the CA and a terrific writer in her own right, which made me feel terribly guilty. 

Look, I like a lot of people over there, from Calkins and the best sports section in the country, Wendi Thomas, and the reporters like Zack McMillin and Amos Maki.  The problem that I have with the CA is that the management (Hi Chris Peck) seems too worried about offended suburbanites to put enough resources into covering the CITY.  They also don't run enough stories by Richard Locker, their one-person Nashville bureau who would be as celebrated as the Knoxville News-Sentinel's Tom Humphrey if he were given the inches to do so. (Note: I have never met Mr. Locker, just read him for years.)

However, on a daily basis, there are four people who, on a day-to-day basis, beat the crap out of the CA reporters: John Branston and Jackson Baker of the Flyer, and Bill Dries and Andy Meek of the Daily News.  (Full disclosure: Jackson is the reason I am linked at the Flyer, and I do receive a lot of hits from their site.)

I have been reading newspapers since I was 4 years old.  No, really.  I grew up reading the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Daily News, and I know what a paper ought to be.  I nearly went into journalism.  To me, there are few things more important for a major metro area than a strong daily newspaper, and we really haven't had one for years.  Scripps, the parent company of the Commercial Appeal, has used the paper as a cash cow over the years, virtually eviscerating the Newspaper Guild.

If they still need revenue, where is it going?  It's not the paper I grew up with, and I am not sure that I am at all comfortable with paying for online content, or even a subscription to the dead-tree edition so I can get free online access.

Your thoughts?  Here's an interesting take from the Flyer's Bruce Vanwyngarden.
Also, Ross knocks it out of the park here.

It's About That Time Again - Sidney Chism Picnic on June 18

I hope it's not so hot and humid this year, I seriously came close to falling out last year.  I will be there, hope to see you there!

Would you help out by taking a survey?

Blogger apparently ATE this post, so here we go again:

Dr. Barb Kaye of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville's School of Journalism & Electronic Media has asked that if our readers would be willing to take part in a survey regarding your usage of media, figuring that if you're a reader here, you're probably pretty savvy about politics and current events.

If you would, please go here and take the survey; I have already done so.

Thanks for being the savvy readers that you are!

Pasta and Politics this Saturday!

You’re Invited to Join Us for

Pasta and Politics 

Hosted by West Tennesseans for Progress PAC

Adrienne Pakis-Gillon, Dave Cambron, Diane Cambron, Nancy Kuhn, Judy Palmer

Come Meet and Mingle with Our Celebrity Servers:

Memphis City Mayor A C Wharton Jr.,

Shelby County Commissioner Steve Mulroy, SCDP Chairman Van Turner,

TN State Rep. Jeanne Richardson, TN State Senator Beverly Marrero,

DNC Member and TNDP Secretary Gale Jones Carson

Saturday May 14, 2011

6 p.m.-8 p.m.

Nick Daniele’s Milano’s Pizza

3705 Malco Way Memphis, TN 38125

(Adjacent to Majestic Theatre off Winchester)

RSVP TO apakis2621@gmail.com or call 901-758-1410

Suggested Donation - $30/person, $50/couple

West Tennesseans for Progress is a PAC to help progressive candidates in West Tennessee. WTP will help qualified, progressive candidates jump start their campaigns. We appreciate your support in this endeavor.

Happy Mother's Day

Paul William Bryant sums up Mother's day for me.

So far, a fun trip to Nashville

Well, other than locking my keys in my car, that is (thank you, AAA!).
Afterwards, I went to the Gold Rush to meet with some of the folks I knew from Twitter but had yet to meet, such as JR Lind of the Nashville Post and his wife, among others.  After a beer and a good dinner, we were delighted and surprised when Mike McWherter came by with some folks, and we got to talk for a while.

I really wish Tennesseans had gotten to see the Mike McWherter I got to know tonight, personable, fun, well-spoken and relaxed.  He would certainly have been a dramatic improvement over Dana Carvey's stunt double.  I really enjoyed our conversation, and hope to have more. If you want to read more from Mike, come to Out of the Blue.

In the morning, I am hitting the Legislative Plaza to see our folks up there, then home to the Bluff City.
See you tomorrow.

It's getting bad out there, folks

The Mississippi is apparently flowing BACKWARDS, folks.  The latest projections are that the Big Muddy will crest here on May 10 at 48 feet, just .7 short of the 1937 record.
I thought of this...

We welcome Diatribes and Ovations to THE ENDLESS BLOGROLL

It's an interesting new blog, go check it out!

Tonight changed Memphis sports history

Photo Credit: Nikki Boertman - CA

It should be Z-Bo up there, because he saved us.  Despite leading for almost the entire game, there we were down one, 80-79, with more than four minutes to go.  Zach Randolph took over, scoring 13 of our final 20 points and leading the Grizzlies to their first-ever series win with a 99-91 victory over the #1 seeded San Antonio Spurs tonight at the FedExForum before a screaming sellout crowd.

How appropriate it was that, in the toughest moment, Z-Bo put this team on his back.  Randolph, who had a checkered history, has rebuilt his reputation in Memphis b y being a model citizen off the court and the team's leader on it.  Along with youngsters like Mike Conley, Marc Gasol and OJ Mayo, and fellow vets Tony Allen (pictured above) and the return of former hero Shane Battier, the Grizzlies have won over the city.

I have had the great fortune to have attended this city's premier sporting events over the years, including the U of M's 21-17 football victory in 1996 and Albert Pujols' PCL-winning home run in 2000, but I have to say that tonight may have topped them all, and it was very, very special.

Next up for the Grizz is the Northwest Division champion Oklahoma City Thunder, against whom we had a 3-1 regular season record.  Game 1 comes Sunday at noon on ABC24 and WRBO-FM 103.5.  Tickets for Games 3 and 4 in Memphis go on sale to the general public Sunday morning, see Grizzlies.com for details.  UPDATE: Game 3 is Saturday, May 7 at 4 PM (which means I can't attend due to prior commitments) and Game 4 is Monday, May 9 at 8:30 P.M.

BELIEVE.

GOP Congressmen Face the Wrath of Their Constituents

From Think Progress via my friend Christian Grantham -

Hey City Council! Steve Ross Has A Question For You!

As in, Where The Hell Are The New Council/SB Districts??????  He tells you why he asks right here.

We Welcome Quips of Yellow to THE ENDLESS BLOGROLL

Heads up to the newest Tennessee blogger, Quips of Yellow, good posts being written over there, go check them out!

The Weather Was Brutal in the South

Courtesy Tuscaloosa News/Dusty Compton

Per the Weather Channel, over 250 people died in the South, 162 in Alabama alone, due to the devastation.  A long-track tornado demolished much of Tuscaloosa, then smashed into Birmingham's west and north sides, and worked its way to Ringgold, GA, a suburb of Chattanooga.

If you are on Twitter, you will want to follow Wayne Grayson of the Tuscaloosa News, who has stunning pictures of the destruction.

If you can, please text REDCROSS to 90999 and a $10 contribution will go to the Red Cross, who will use it for damage relief in the affected areas.  They will be appreciated, especially by those who survived the storms but had their lives uprooted.

In West Tennessee, Steve Ross notes that the high water is threatening low-lying areas, and not just along the Mississippi.  I received an email this morning from a good friend advising that the Loosahatchie was out of its banks where it crosses I-40; it won't crest for a few days, I suspect.  Go here and here for more information about the rivers in our area.

If you are on Twitter and want to know how power restoration is going locally, follow either @MLGW or their savvy communications chief, @GaleJonesCarson.

Ross and Aunt B. give us new perspective on HB 0600

Over at the VIBINC, Steve Ross provides videos and gives some depth to the idiocy surrounding the newly-passed HB 0600, you should go over there and read it.

Then, go read Aunt B.'s piece at Tiny Cat Pants, good stuff on the intertubes today!

Because there isn't enough right-wing gibberish on radio these days..

Citadel has flipped 98.9 FM from Gen X music to right-wing talk, featuring that Alex P. Keaton wannabe Ben Ferguson from 2-6.  Ferguson is apparently the only local "talent" featured hosting a show, although the Radio-Info Memphis board discussion says Bev Hart of Wake-Up Crew fame is on the station.

Ok, so that's WREC AM 600, Flinn's Folly 87.7 The Point, and now News Talk 98.9 (600 has Faux News, what will this station use?), so what's someone who is NOT right of center supposed to do?  I won't be listening, that's for sure.

I am thankful that I have WQOX, WEVL, WUMR, WKNO, and WMAV (MPR Oxford) plugged into my car radio; that's a welcome relief from the buffoons on these other stations.

By the way, this is my 2,100th post.