Tennessee
updated
9:02 p.m.
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Yesterday I alerted you to my new efforts to raise awareness for civil rights violations in this country. Stacey Campfield, a white, male, heterosexual Christian state senator in Tennessee, was denied restaurant service on the basis of horrific racist, serophobic, homophobic and scientifically unsound comments he made his status as a religious white male state legislator in the south. I've l...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - 9:25 a.m. - 10 clicks 
Note: this is going up a lot later than I had hoped, since my article just now got posted Over at The Huffington Post , I've written a follow-up [ and you should definitely read it ] to the story I called attention to over here a couple days ago; there, it was discussed that Tennessee state senator Stacey Campfield recently scribbled down a few sad and indignant paragraphs on his blog aft...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Thu 4:00 p.m. - 5 clicks
Track HB 740 here This is a question I keep asking myself as bill after bill slides right through the state legislature. Last year it was the right to have a seat at the table when negotiating salary, class sizes, and all sorts of other things. This year its tenure and perhaps most egregious, payment [...]...
vibinc - Thu 11:41 a.m. - 40 clicks
The Nashville Predators are already soaking taxpayers to the tune of $10 million in sales taxes from non-hockey events that the state quietly authorized them to take. Mayor Karl Dean swears he did not know anything about the soaking, but he now promises to fix the situation: Dean has said he plans to reduce Metro’s subsidy of the Predators, which is worth an estimated $7.8 million this fi...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Wed 4:25 p.m. - 14 clicks
As races gear up around the state and being that I am a District 8 native, I am curious on how this race will play out. Joe Lance has a round up at Tennessee Ticketon recent media coverage and there are a few names that have been thrown around on the GOP side but not [...]...
Newscoma - Wed 7:06 a.m. - 14 clicks
Beverly Marrero is a rising liberal star , Tennessee's very best. I'm sick and tired of the Democratic Party running dull and boring and conservative men in Tennessee. It's high time we had someone to get excited about. No one in this state excites the base quite like Beverly Marrero. Without a doubt, she is someone worth fighting for. That fact alone has the potential to wake up a whole lo...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Tue 9:27 p.m. - 13 clicks
Education historian Diane Ravitch points to the self-contractions of the White House education policy and mentions Metro Nashville Public Schools as a cautionary tale: Teachers must have been excited when they heard what the President said then because he showed that he really understood the dangers of high-stakes testing. He said: "So what I want to do is—one thing I never want to see hap...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Tue 4:45 p.m. - 14 clicks
My colleague, friend, and co-conspirator, Rev. Jacqueline Luck, is the minister at the Holston Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Gray, Tennessee. Among many projects, Rev. Luck is active with United Religions Initiative and the Green Interfaith Network. She talked with me about the history and commitments of Unitarian Universalism, and practicing a liberal faith in East Tennessee. ...
Shuck and Jive - Tue 11:27 a.m. - 15 clicks
So, Stacey Campfield, a state senator in Tennessee, was refused restaurant service after sponsoring anti-gay legislation and spouting hateful rhetoric: Martha Boggs, owner of The Bistro at the Bijou, refused to serve Campfield, who has compared homosexuality to bestiality and claimed that one cannot contract AIDS through heterosexual sex. So, of course, he did what any white, heterosexua...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Tue 8:25 a.m. - 14 clicks
Known far and wide as a bigot, idiot and sponsor of the Don't Say Gay bill, Tennessee State Rep. Stacey Campfield was denied service by the owner of Knoxville's Bistro at the Bijou because of his insanely bigoted and ignorant views. This story makes my day! "The sign in front of the Bistro today reads , 'Today's Special: Fried Chicken. Crispy Chicken Livers. No Stacey.'" An...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Mon 2:48 p.m. - 15 clicks
State Senator Stacey Campfield, sponsor of a bill that would prohibit teachers from discussing homosexuality in the classroom until 9th grade, was thrown out of a Knoxville restaurant yesterday. Martha Boggs, owner of The Bistro at the Bijou, refused to serve Campfield, who has compared homosexuality to bestiality and claimed that one cannot contract AIDS through heterosexual sex. ...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Mon 11:09 a.m. - 9 clicks
One of the most consistent charges against Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 campaign was that she was just too polarizing. Spinning himself as some post-partisan knight in shining armor, Obama charged repeatedly that unlike himself, Hillary was too polarizing. Of course it was all BS: Obama: The most polarizing president. Ever. Liberal Politics Feminist News Gend...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Mon 9:10 a.m. - 15 clicks
It has been obvious for quite a while that the Republicans thrive in a world where their revisionist history is allowed to be parroted unquestioned. Here is the next step in their ongoing War on Reality. ...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Mon 6:44 a.m. - 14 clicks
Last night information went viral very quickly about a restaurant in Knoxville that asked Sen. Stacey Campfield to leave their establishment. Owner Martha Boggs who owns the Bistro at the Bijou asked the controversial politician to leave to make the point that any discrimination of anyone is painful and she went as far as to [...]...
Newscoma - Mon 6:08 a.m. - 16 clicks
The potential for a black eye at a North Nashville mainstay: The Nashville Farmers' Market Board asked for a detailed review by the Metro Department Finance Thursday after questions of how the market operates. An examination found billing irregularities, inconsistent lease agreements, discrepancies in alcohol revenue and lack of policy enforcement. Originally blogged at Enclave , Copyr...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Sun 7:24 p.m. - 3 clicks
No one said it would be quick, easy, cheap, or without some bad press, but that doesn’t mean all the news is bad. What am I talking about? The growing number of investigations concerning divisions of the City of Memphis government. Over the two years since Mayor AC Wharton assumed the Mayor’s office we’ve seen [...]...
vibinc - Sun 2:48 p.m. - 24 clicks
In 2007 real estate reporters called Salemtown the next hot spot , so hot, we were already "on fire": Up-and-coming 27-year-old developer Jeremy Gearheart seems like a good match with Salemtown, an emerging neighborhood near downtown where he's building single-family homes and putting down roots by buying and rehabbing an old home. Gearheart is finalizing plans for eight upscale brick brownsto...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Sun 11:06 a.m. - 16 clicks
Living, Life-Giving Water John Shuck First Presbyterian Church Elizabethton, Tennessee January 29th, 2012 John 4:1-42 Scholars' Version (SV) We are making our way through the Gospel of John during Winter. Episcopal Bishop and biblical scholar, John Shelby Spong, wrote this about the Gospel of John in his latest book, Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World : I...
Shuck and Jive - Sun 10:47 a.m. - 11 clicks
um - No. Hat tip to Wonkette for this story and to Michelangelo Signorile from Sirius radio who conducted the interview with this bigoted ignoramus. Tennessee State Senator Stacey Campfield said: Most people realize that AIDS came from the homosexual community — it was one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men. It was an airline pilot, if I recall. ...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Sun 4:23 a.m. - 10 clicks
This is just a quick update: yesterday I wrote a post about a petition urging Tennessee state representative Richard Floyd to resign. He had sponsored a bill to harass people who are transgender when they attempt to use restrooms and make them show their birth certificates beforehand. This is even more strange because in Tennessee their laws prevent anyone from changing their sex on their birt...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Sat 1:49 p.m. - 11 clicks
MoveOn.org is circulating a petition demanding that Tennessee state representative Richard Floyd should resign. Floyd, along with state senator Bo Watson, introduced a transphobic “bathroom bill” in Tennessee’s General Assembly recently. Shortly thereafter, Watson withdrew his version of the bill after pressure from state and national organizations and blogs, and after Rep. Floyd made a comment ...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Jan 27 - 9 clicks
No, not in the " I'm not working until I get what I want!" kind of strike. I'm talking about a sudden public outburst of stupid , kind of strike. You know, the reason you go to a NASCAR race kind of strike. Or when lightening strikes...agai--that kind of strike. It's something you hate to see, but it's something you have to watch. In this particular outburst of stupid, the Tennessee Te...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Jan 24
Tennessee lawmaker, Joe Ragan is not a fan of gays. We don’t have to be. He is free to be a bigot in this country as long as that bigotry does not lead to violence or discrimination. But a just and decent society should do everything in its power to protect the life, liberty and happiness of its citizens, be they homosexual or heterosexual. In doing so it means that we have a moral obligation...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Jan 24
Join us Saturday for a great concert at FPC Elizabethton. We are bound and determined to save Tennessee's mountains. Do get the word out about this concert! Go here for more information . If you can, come early and join our afternoon of action. At 4 p.m. our Peacemaking Team will host an afternoon of action on behalf of our mountains. There will be discussion, action planning...
Shuck and Jive - Jan 24
Over at Gemna Speaks, Gemna Holmes broke some rather provocative news regarding an email allegedly sent by Metro Nashville Public Schools Food Services Director Jay Nelson (I added the emphasis below): Recently, a Metro Nashville Public School (MNPS) male supervisor sent an email to female subordinates that has gone viral. In the food service department, the female to male ratio is 9 t...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Jan 24 - 2 clicks
This plan to start charter schools in the more affluent neighborhoods of West Nashville strips any of the pretense that education reform is about giving disadvantaged kids better chances to succeed. Education reform is primarily about maximizing foundation grants and federal dollars and channeling them toward private education enterprise through the oversight of private boards of community movers ...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Jan 23 - 2 clicks
For background on this tornado outbreak, please see my diary from earlier today. The SPC has issued a "Particularly Dangerous Situation" Tornado Watch for parts of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee until midnight CST as a line of storms continues to build up and move east across Arkansas. "Particularly Dangerous Situation" is enhanced wording added to a tornado watch to indicate the highe...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Jan 22
Born From Above John Shuck First Presbyterian Church Elizabethton, Tennessee January 22, 2012 John 3:1-36 During Winter, the season we have designated to explore the via creativa , the way of creativity and imagination, I am preaching a series of sermons on the Gospel of John . Theologian Matthew Fox coined the name Creation Spirituality to speak of a way of living that em...
Shuck and Jive - Jan 22
You guessed it. This horrendously cruel and immoral bill comes from the Homophobic State of Tennessee. It would make it okay to bully gay kids if it's done in the name of religion. Nothing quite like Christian values. Haven't enough gay kids committed suicide? And do Tennessee lawmakers really want future suicides on their consciences? Sign the petition. Liberal Politics Femin...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Jan 21
I've seen a lot of truly horrible stuff come through the legislative pipeline in the past several years here in Tennessee (the buckle of the bible belt), but this might be the worst. Citing religious freedoms, a proposed bill would permit hate speech and bullying in schools , if that is what your religious beliefs guide you to do. Really? This is where we're heading? Protect...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Jan 20
Despite their rank reputation for ill-gotten gains at the expense of ordinary people, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean no doubt sees Goldman as golden: Goldman Sachs’ ... poor reputation was cemented when the government sued it for fraud in 2010. The firm settled with the government for $550 million, but this was viewed as little more than a slap on the wrist because of the bank’s immense wealth. ...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Jan 18 - 8 clicks
There are a lot of reasons that I hope that Sen. Beverly Marrero will consider a run for the U.S. Senate. As a middle-aged woman myself who works in politics, I always find her to be inspirational because of her fearlessness and I consider her to be a role model. Anyone who is going [...]...
Newscoma - Jan 18 - 8 clicks
If you’ve been watching the news or reading the newspaper, you’ve probably seen a story or 12 about redistricting. Federal, State and Local levels of government are in the process of doing that very thing here in Tennessee. The photo to the left is House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh and Caucus Chair Mike Turner. Both [...]...
vibinc - Jan 18 - 8 clicks
Metro Nashville Public Schools officials won't confirm or deny, but Nashville's service employees' union, SEIU, charges that MNPS Director Jesse Register has tried to convince service employees to quit the union. SEIU has filed a complaint with the School Board: "This is not a dispute over wages, funding, or benefits," said Doug Collier, President of SEIU Local 205. "Last year, the state...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Jan 17 - 9 clicks
International Peacemaker of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Mazen Alsaqa is my guest on the next Religion For Life . He is a Christian refugee from Iraq now living in Michigan. In the Fall of 2011 he visited East Tennessee to tell his story of the plight of Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq. Read more about him at Shuc...
Shuck and Jive - Jan 16
Tennessee is making great strides in the contest to be the most bigoted state in the union. The 'Don't Say Gay' bill is up for a vote on January 18 at 3:30 PM . File this one under embarrassed and ashamed to be in the State of Tennessee . The Tennessee Equality Project sent this to my inbox: Tell members of the Tennessee House Education Subcommittee to vote against the "Don't Say...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Jan 16
Since redistricting in Tennessee is all but set in stone, I decided to try something out. Despite making noises last year of splitting Nashville 2-3 ways to hurt Rep. Jim Cooper of Nashville (D-05), the state legislature held back and instead made the district one point more Democratic by making Davidson County whole and trading some of TN-05's dark red territory for light red territory. &...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Jan 15
NoGreater Love John Shuck First Presbyterian Church Elizabethton, Tennessee January 15, 2012 Martin Luther King John 15:1-26 Todaywe honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the struggle for equality. We do so in the context of worship because weknow the sacred nature of this struggle. Themarches across the south were holy marches. ...
Shuck and Jive - Jan 15
So for those who weren't around yesterday, I got information to write a story, and along with eventually Think Progress and several state blogs in Tennessee - LGBT and others who were on it at the outset - discussed a new bill their General Assembly introduced yesterday that would force people who are transgender to go to the incorrect bathroom for their actual gender. It immediately start...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Jan 13
An interesting exchange on the floor of the Tennessee State House today. Democrats introduced a number of amendments to the House Redistricting plan, all of which were placed on the table by the Republican majority; effectively killed. The final amendment was proposed by Jeanne Richardson. The amendment would have shifted 6 precincts into the new [...]...
vibinc - Jan 12
Some legislators in the Tennessee General Assembly are having a bad day. A bill to restrict access to public restrooms and public dressing rooms designated by sex to members of that particular sex was introduced and immediately condemned and pretty roundly mocked all day long all over national and state news and blogs. You'd think it might humble these members. But you'd be wrong : Rep....
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Jan 12
Crossposted at The Huffington Post [UPDATE: Senate version of bill WITHDRAWN! ] A new anti-transgender "bathroom bill" was filed in Tennessee's General Assembly today by a Republican state Senator. The bill " restricts access to public restrooms and public dressing rooms designated by sex to members of that particular sex ." There is a monetary fine for people who violate the law. And s...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Jan 12
Once upon a time, there was a girl who was really a middle-aged woman with frizzy hair because the water in Nashville is as hard as the rock holding up the Matterhorn, who caught cold. She believes that she caught it because the weather Gods were playing jokes with the seasons. Anyway, she went through [...]...
Newscoma - Jan 10
The Tennessee Republican controlled legislature just released its map that creates 7 safe Republican districts to just 2 for Democrats in a state where Dems held 5 of 9 seats from 2002-2010. This map goes to the extreme of what Tennessee could support in a Democratic gerrymander by creating 4 seats that would favor blue dog Democrats in the John Tanner/Bart Gordon/Jim Cooper model and 1 sa...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Jan 9
Tennessee Republicans finally unveiled their long-awaited congressional redistricting proposal on Friday: (click for larger) (Hat-tip: DrPhillips for the map) Moving west to east, we'll start with TN-08 and the Memphis-based TN-09. TN-09 has likely become significantly more African-American, as the white precincts have been scooped out by that tentacle of the new TN-08; they are rep...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Jan 8
Baptized With Spirit John Shuck First Presbyterian Church Elizabethton, Tennessee January 8th, 2012 John 1:19-51 “Let me tell you this: you’llsee the sky split open and God’s messengers ascending and descending on theHuman One.” John 1:51 Scholars' Version During the season of Winterwe are going to explore the Gospel ofJohn . &nbs...
Shuck and Jive - Jan 8
500 mountains in Appalachia have had their tops destroyed in order to get to the coal seams. Many within faith communities see this destruction as an assault on God's creation. Coal companies have their sites set on Tennessee's mountains. Jennie Young of Elizabethton, Tennessee talks to me on Religion For Life about efforts to alert people, particularly in faith communities, abou...
Shuck and Jive - Jan 6
Yesterday the State House and Senate released their proposed maps for the decennial redistricting that comes right after the decennial census. You can view the State Senate Maps here and the State House Maps here. There have been numerous reports about what’s going to happen to various locales. News outlets in Memphis have focused on [...]...
vibinc - Jan 5 - 2 clicks
The Way, the Truth, and the Life John Shuck First Presbyterian Church Elizabethton, Tennessee New Year’s Day 2012 John 14:1-31 I am excited about mynew radio program, Religion For Life ,that begins airing this Thursday. Ihave recorded and produced several interviews already. AnthonyFlaccavento is this week’s guest and then our own Jennie Young will be on the...
Shuck and Jive - Jan 1 - 2 clicks
Thanks to Madison Mathews and the Johnson City Press for this article in today's Faith Section, "Faith on air: Weekly radio show takes look at religion and society." Religion is a complicated thing. Talking about religion and how it ties to various aspects of society is often even more complicated. But a new half-hour program on WETS-FM/HD will explore the role religion plays in so...
Shuck and Jive - Dec 31
So, with all the proposals floating around to drug-test various recipients of government benefits (because, of course, those people are spending that money to buy drugs, not to support their families, and we're basing this on exactly zero evidence), Tennessee state Rep. G.A. Hathaway (D-Memphis) has a new group of people we should be drug-testing. Lawmakers. http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/... ...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Dec 30 - 2 clicks
I am hosting a new radio program on two local public radio stations, WETS in Johnson City, Tennessee and WEHC in Emory, Virginia. Here is the press release : The role of religion in society will be explored on a new program, a joint production of public radio stations WETS-FM/HD (89.5 MHz) in Johnson City, Tennessee and WEHC-FM (90.7 MHz) in Emory, Vir...
Shuck and Jive - Dec 28
The Light of the World John Shuck First Presbyterian Church Elizabethton, Tennessee Christmas Day 2011 John 1:1-18 (Scholars' Version) Light was shining in the darkness, And darkness did not master it. Is that true? Is that true for you? Is that true for our world? We all know aboutdarkness in our world and in our own lives. You can fill in the blank...
Shuck and Jive - Dec 25 - 2 clicks
A reminder that initiating policy changes is only the starting point in the battle to stamp out discrimination. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius ( Wikimedia Commons ) Monday, a story broke out of Tennessee on a small blog Out and About that someone's having a little trouble understanding the Health and Human Services new directives on LGBT partner visitation policies, announced with ...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Dec 20
For eleven years I lived in the Seventh Congressional District in Tennessee ("The No-thinking Seventh"), and my congressional (mis)representative was Marsha Blackburn. I moved fourteen miles this year, and am now a resident of the Tennessee-5th. The extent to which I am better of being represented by Jim Cooper is the subject of another diary. Don't trip over that thingy. ...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Dec 20
This comment was noticed on Facebook by my friend Michael. Sadly, it is just one example of the type of racism appearing on the internet tonight (Facebook and Twitter) - and it started within minutes of the announcement that Kim Jong-Il is dead. My friends Michael and Brandon (who is Michael's boyfriend) - who write for Middle Tennessee State University's paper Sidelines - reacted ...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Dec 18
This year has been interesting in Tennessee. First, we saw the state legislature pass a law overturning the GLBT non-discrimination ordinance in Nashville. This also prevented all other cities in Tennessee from enacting similar measures. Now, with the Occupy message gaining traction, they have proposed a newly onerous measure. Join me below the squiggle... ...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Dec 13 - 17 clicks
Heartbreaking. We often say this when we hear news of another gay teenager committing suicide. We often experience regret and remorse for not being there, thinking there was something we could have done. Recently one hit close to my community of faith here in Nashville, Tennessee. A teenager in Cheatham County, Tennessee was bullied to the point of taking his own life. This is n...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Dec 12 - 16 clicks
The latest fire in Obion County, TN (which you may recall does not have a fire department) came as no surprise to me. Unfortunately, neither did the complete failure of the press — even independent, progressive media. If public safety professionals were allowed to inform the discourse, we could gain much ground for the 99%. Alas. A very popular position among progressives: ...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Dec 12 - 16 clicks
An ACLU lawsuit against the Sumner County school board in Tennessee has succeeded in reining in some religious folk. They didn't see anything wrong with teachers leading prayer and bible study with students; saturating their school grounds with religious displays; and even inviting in youth ministers to preach to captive audiences. Naturally, it's the ACLU that's depicted as trying to stamp ou...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Dec 9
Tonight comes word that it has happened again. Another teenager has died a senseless death due to bullying. Friends say 18 year old Jacob Rogers recently dropped out of school after unsuccessfully attempting to get his school to help him stop the bullying ... One friend of senior Jacob Rogers told a Nashville television station that she believes he committed suicide because he was tired of co...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Dec 9
