Tennessee
updated
2:01 p.m.
I was beginning to think that Clinton would go down in history as the most inept Secretary of State in many years. But finally, finally someone in this gov’t stood up to terrorism and called the true criminals on this planet out. Well done, Madame Secretary…. Decades overdue, a ranking US Gov’t official has publicly lambasted the Terrorist State of Israel for it’s...
Ablogination - 12:20 p.m. - 2 clicks 
CBS ) The big banks that received billions of dollars from the U.S. government and continue to pay their executives large bonuses are engaged in a "very elegant form of theft" says former bond-trader-turned-author Michael Lewis. He spoke to "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft in an interview to be broadcast Sunday, March 14, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. Wall Street banks, many on the verge of...
SharonCobb.com - Sat 9:25 p.m.
Meet The Press Alex Wong / Getty Images for Meet the Press This Sunday: Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod As a critical week for health care reform approaches, how will President Obama convince members of his own party to finally pass a bill? What changes is he willing to accept in order to get the needed votes? And if the President fails on this priority, how will it impact the rest o...
SharonCobb.com - Sat 8:45 p.m.
Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. Karen Ignagni, President, America's Health Insurance Plans ...
SharonCobb.com - Sat 8:26 p.m. - 3 clicks
From ABC : Our guest this Sunday, the President's senior advisor, David Axelrod as President Obama may be facing one of the most critical moments of his presidency. Health Care reform hangs in the balance. The President has ramped up his involvement in the effort to get it passed but the Speaker is still looking for the votes. On top of that there's the unfinished business of financial refo...
SharonCobb.com - Sat 8:26 p.m.
As none of my elected dudes are asking for this, pretend that Al Franken represents Hoots and we will call it a day. Could we get Rep. Mark Maddox or Sen. Roy Herron on this please or am I on my own? I’m on my own I have a sad feeling. ...
Newscoma - Sat 4:42 p.m.
Thanks to the Elizabethton Star for including this in Friday's paper! First Presbyterian Church will host a live and silent auction on Sunday, March 14, beginning at noon. The auction is being held to raise funds for the church's upcoming youth mission trip through Appalachia Service Project. This event is open to the public. The auction will include a week's use of a Myrtle Bea...
Shuck and Jive - Sat 11:00 a.m. - 2 clicks
Glenn Beck's recent theological musings resulted in the creation of a Facebook event for this weekend, Worship at a Social Justice Loving Church . As of this posting, the event has 2,273 confirmed guests as well as links and wall posts to social justice lovin' congregations. It would be a helpful resource if these congregations were listed by location. But the point is to get ...
Shuck and Jive - Sat 10:43 a.m.
"Save a girl, save the planet, " writes Kathleen Parker in a column about some of the awesome recipients of the recent International Women of Courage Awards: If your impression of an Afghan woman is of a shapeless, frightened form engulfed in yards of heat-trapping fabric, you haven't met Shafiqa Quraishi. Make that Colonel Quraishi, who earned her title as one of 900-plus female...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Sat 7:00 a.m.
It's high time someone worked on gay rights in Mississippi. One brave teen girl, Constance McMillen is doing it! And how about these wise words from Roger Ebert ? " It's okay if girls go to a prom together because they can't get dates, but god forbid if they like each other ." Jezebel: [S]he's made gay rights for teens a national issue. Support keeps pouring in — yesterday Roger Eber...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Sat 6:49 a.m.
Just a reminder to move your clock forward one hour before you go to bed, tonight or if you're still up, move it at 2 am. A little info on time change from the NIST : When does Daylight Saving Time/Standard Time begin? Daylight Saving Time begins each year at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of March. Move clocks ahead one hour at the start of Daylight Saving Time. Standard Time begins each year...
SharonCobb.com - Sat 3:44 a.m.
I am proud of Constance McMillen and ashamed of the adults in her community. From today's Johnson City Press : JACKSON, Miss. — Constance McMillen didn’t believe her Mississippi school district would really call off her senior prom rather than allow her to show up with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. On Thursday, a day after the Itawamba County school board did just that, the 18...
Shuck and Jive - Fri 1:46 p.m. - 5 clicks
The Middle East Study Committee has released its report, Breaking Down the Walls that you can download in pdf. On their website, you can read the report in sections as well as read a number of other resources including member bios and a timeline of their work. This report will be acted upon at the 2010 General Assembly in July. This would be an excellent document to study...
Shuck and Jive - Fri 12:28 p.m.
The following letter to the editor is a response to the response to the response to my recent Evolution Sunday sermon and article . A creationist has words for my apostate church ! Woot! It is the latest in the evolution/creationist smackdown in Elizabethton, Tennessee! From today's letter to the editor section in the Elizabethton Star: Editor: I would ...
Shuck and Jive - Fri 12:13 p.m. - 3 clicks
Amnesty International reports that women are 5 times more likely to die in childbirth in the USA than in Greece, 4 times more likely to die in the USA than in Germany, and 3 times more likely to die in the USA than in Spain. The crisis in maternal health is not addressed by the current health care reform proposal. The organization is calling on President Obama to establish an Office of...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Fri 10:34 a.m. - 2 clicks
Another week has gone by and time is ticking, and we have to do better at doing the best we can. And what better than a great song to help put us in a better mood and propel us to naturally do better? Every Friday, myself and a few other journalists and bloggers post a song to start your weekend off right and to feel better. We put politics and personal differences aside, and hope...
SharonCobb.com - Thu 10:44 p.m. - 2 clicks
Glenn Beck recently offered spiritual advice to his listeners: "I beg you, look for the words social justice or economic justice on your church website . If you find it run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words....If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop and tell them, "Excuse me, are...
Shuck and Jive - Thu 3:25 p.m. - 5 clicks
Doing research and getting ready to blog locally… Just stopped in to rant. 1) Jihad Jane (with the kung fu grip): It appears an American citizen has been arrested for plotting terrorism . According to sources, Colleen LaRose had also attempted suicide years before. Some people can’t do anything right. 2) It’s a flaming Massa-cre!: New York Rep. Eric Mas...
Ablogination - Thu 1:08 p.m. - 2 clicks
"It’s more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier." -- Feminist placard, seen in 2010 at a Feminist demonstration in Trafalgar Square Politics Feminist News Gender ...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Thu 10:47 a.m.
“All we ask is that our overlooked history would no longer be a missing chapter” in the history of aviation and the US, said Deanie Parrish, who accepted the gold medals on behalf of all WASPS. This is a sobering reminder of why in 2010, women have 1 month out of every 12 months for women's history: It took them more than 60 years to be recognized after their government attempted to hi...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Thu 10:08 a.m. - 3 clicks
Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman in history to win the Oscar for "Best Director." Yay! Women have finally figured out how to win this prize. Make movies about men: Unless they star Meryl Streep, movies about women are routinely dismissed because they’re about women, as the patronizing term “chick flick” affirms every time it’s reflexively deployed. But chick flicks are often the...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Thu 9:40 a.m.
Patrick Kennedy sums up the insanity: " There's two press people in this gallery. We're talking about Eric Massa 24-7 on the TV, we're talking about war and peace, $3 billion, 1,000 lives and no press? No press ." Politics Media News Afghanistan ...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Thu 8:51 a.m. - 2 clicks
I returned to Hoots earlier this week and basically fell asleep for about two days. I had planned a self-induced coma for Monday but life sort of got in the way, so I just had to go with the flow. I finally ended up at a juke joint I hadn’t been in for awhile and saw [...]...
Newscoma - Thu 8:51 a.m.
Well the good news is I'll get all the residuals for back alimony. The bad news is it will amount to about 10 dollars. You have to see this trailer of 'Shoot Out At Luck' to know what I'm talking about. It's like a western version of 'Plan 9 From Outer Space.' Well, if it turns into a cult film like that, at least the residuals will be a little higher. Willie Nelson plays himself and Tex, ...
SharonCobb.com - Wed 10:23 p.m. - 2 clicks
The busybodies are at it again. Busybody Team One has filed a complaint against the Presbytery of John Knox for approving the ordination of Scott Anderson, a candidate for ministry who happens to be openly gay. They argue Anderson should not be ordained because he does not comply with the ordination standards of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which require those being orda...
Shuck and Jive - Wed 12:28 p.m.
Sexism at the Oscars . . . Elinor Burkett explains the so-called "Kanye moment ," when she took the mic from her Oscar co-winner on the stage at the Academy Awards. He was rude and ran to beat me to the stage, he wanted to make an acceptance speech that was all about himself, Burkett says about her co-winner. Burkett also references the everyday sexism at play at the Oscars...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Wed 11:29 a.m.
"I'm sitting there showering, naked as a jaybird, and here comes Rahm Emanuel, not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest. . . . Do you know how awkward it is to have a political argument with a naked man?" --Eric Massa, former congressman (D-NY) Bonus Quote: "Now they're saying I groped a male staffer. Yeah, I did. Not only did I grope him, I tickled...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Wed 9:49 a.m.
Last summer I put up an old bluebird house I had in the garage and forgot about it. It is on the far side of the arboretum I put up on the deck so it isn't seen from the house. It suddenly dawned on me this morning as to why this guy and his mate are hanging around the deck after they've eaten all the farkleberries. They are setting up house. ...
WhitesCreek Journal - Wed 7:09 a.m.
Okay. If you were against passing health care reform before, here is a really good reason for you to change your mind. Here is what Rush Limbaugh said yesterday: "I don't know. I'll just tell you this, if this passes and it's five years from now and all that stuff gets implemented -- I am leaving the country. I'll go to Costa Rica." Oh the irony. Costa Rica has universal health care. ...
SharonCobb.com - Tue 11:28 p.m. - 2 clicks
I can usually figure out what my readers will want to read about, but when I got this press release, I was a bit torn about running it. When I write about politics, I know my regular readers know my point of view. But when I write about music, because I love almost all genres, there's no way to figure out what I'm going to post regarding music, so I do the best to try to put myself in my reader'...
SharonCobb.com - Tue 10:42 p.m.
It's a complete mystery to me how so many Americans are against health care for all when the obvious, it would save many lives, would come out of it, and it is CHEAPER than private insurance. I'm even more baffled when you have the option to keep your private insurance. Let's go to first grade math. Government run health care cost 2-4 cents in administrative costs. (Medicare) Private insurance ...
SharonCobb.com - Tue 7:42 p.m. - 3 clicks
Evolution Sunday celebrations and their aftermath have been a hoot. To catch you up. Article in Elizabethton Star about upcoming Evolution Sunday. My Evolution Sunday Sermon . Harvest Baptist Responds with Creation Sunday. And today! Here is a letter to the editor from one of our peeps. Call it a response to the response: Editor: I would just ...
Shuck and Jive - Tue 6:23 p.m. - 7 clicks
The idiot who forwarded the racist email comparing First Lady Michelle Obama to a chimpanzee has been fired. Walt Baker, CEO of the Tennessee Hospitality Association, has put Tennessee back into the national and international headlines as home to racist idiots. One would like to believe that a blatant racist could not rise to his position. Alas, racists, like sexists, appear to be...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Tue 12:04 p.m. - 10 clicks
The Busybodies have spoken. As they are wont to do. They have words about your naughty bits. Responding to the ever so lame report on 'marriage, civil unions and Presbyterians doing the nasty' by a special committee to investigate same, a minority report declared : Let us boldly proclaim that God has a place for sex! It is a pure place. A...
Shuck and Jive - Tue 11:48 a.m. - 2 clicks
The beautifully gracious Sandra Bullock tells Oprah what's up about that kiss with Meryl Streep. via Oscar Winners on Oprah Politics Feminist News Gender ...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Tue 3:08 a.m. - 2 clicks
Sir Paul wrote a song for the movie, 'Everybody's Fine.' The movie stars Robert DiNiro as a lonely widower, and sets out to visit it kids. Frankly, the movie was slow, predictable and boring. The original ending had Aretha Franklin's version of 'Let It Be.' Paul said he knew he couldn't write another 'Let It Be,' so he wrote the song below, 'I Want To Come Home' for this film. The song is much...
SharonCobb.com - Tue 12:09 a.m.
I know it's been a day in a half since the awards, but something is bugging me that I can't get out of my head. Well, actually there are several things, like the female 'Kanye,' who stole the mic from the director of the film and gave her speech, and then there was the camera shots of James Cameron every time his ex wife, Kathyrn Bigelow was mentioned, but those are just minor irritations. The B...
SharonCobb.com - Mon 11:05 p.m.
Close to 500,000 fans signed the Facebook petition to get Betty White the gig of Saturday Night Live host. It worked. When asked by PEOPLE, “Are you doing Saturday Night Live,” she answered, “Yes,” even if she remains perplexed by the groundswell of support. “I don’t know why or how,” she says, “but it’s been wonderful.” White didn’t offer any details about the SNL gig, and it remains ...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Mon 5:27 p.m. - 3 clicks
The First woman, Katheryn Bigelow, has won the academy for director of the year for 'The Hurt Locker.' In my picks below, I picked all the major awards correctly this year. And I picked Ms. Bigelow not because she is a woman, but she was the best director of the films nominated. That said, let's not forget that Barbra Streisand, who handed out the award, directed 'The Prince Of Tide,' when the...
SharonCobb.com - Mon 3:02 p.m.
What do you call voting against the civil rights of people like yourself? California lawmaker Roy Ashburn calls it representing his constituents. When African-American Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas does it, it's called selling your soul . Just like it is when gay California State Sen. Roy Ashburn does it : "I am gay. Those are the words that have been so difficul...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Mon 3:02 p.m. - 3 clicks
Whoa! Barack Obama looks downright scary. And painfully familiar. The ACLU's full page ad -- in which Barack, Obama morphs into George W. Bush -- is in Sunday's New York Times . From "The One" to the mere clone of a miserable failure. How far he has fallen! Read all about it at the ACLU: NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today published a full-page ad i...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Mon 3:02 p.m. - 3 clicks
Congrats to ETSU women and men ! The women and men both won their respective Atlantic Sun Conference tournaments and are off to the big dance! ...
Shuck and Jive - Mon 3:02 p.m.
Of Manure and Figs John Shuck First Presbyterian Church Elizabethton, Tennessee March 7th, 2010 Third Sunday in Lent Bhagavad Gita 3:3-8, 17-19 Isaiah 55:1-9 Luke 13:6-9 ...But when a man has found delight and satisfaction and peace in the Atman, then he is no longer obliged to perform any kind of action. He has nothing to gain in this world by action, and nothing to lose by refraini...
Shuck and Jive - Mar 7 - 5 clicks
(My Picks are in BOLD ) Nominees 82nd Academy Awards Best Picture Avatar Avatar James Cameron and Jon Landau The Blind Side The Blind Side Gil Netter, Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson District 9 District 9 Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham An Education An Education Finola Dwyer...
SharonCobb.com - Mar 7 - 5 clicks
60 Minutes Programming Note "60 Minutes Presents: Blood Brothers" "60 Minutes" will be pre-empted this week for a special edition of "60 Minutes Presents: Blood Brothers." This hour explores the world of Spanish bullfighting brothers Francisco and Cayetano Rivera-Ordonez, top matadors from one of Spain's most famous bullfighting families. Bob Simon follows the bullfighters outside and in the r...
SharonCobb.com - Mar 6 - 4 clicks
A final Presidential push for health care reform as the White House puts new pressure on Congress to vote on reform by March 18th. Will Democratic leaders be able to unite their caucus and garner the votes necessary to pass the bill? And what final shape will the legislation take? We'll get all the latest from Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Sunday's Roundtable: Hatch, Fo...
SharonCobb.com - Mar 6 - 3 clicks
Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Dan Balz, The Washington Post Jim VandeHei, Executive Editor, Politico ...
SharonCobb.com - Mar 6 - 4 clicks
The White House sets a deadline for health care reform. The President said it's time to "bring this journey to a close." Will Democrats go it alone? Do they have the votes? Can concerns over abortion funding be resolved? Guest anchor Matthew Dowd puts those questions to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Then, a 'This Week' Exclusive with Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mc...
SharonCobb.com - Mar 6 - 3 clicks
Most of us would assume that being the CEO of a hospitality association would mean one would have a talent for showing hospitality, or at the very least some knowledge of PR. The CEO of such an association would know how to make a potential visitor feel welcomed. I mean who would ever assume comparing them to a chimp wouldn't be funny? Well apparently the Tennessee Hospitality Association CEO Wa...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Mar 6 - 11 clicks
I see the LayMAN trying to " dispel the myths about Onebyone, Exodus International ." That's a turn of phrase, isn't it? The LayMAN dispelling myths. They aren't using the word myth in the Zeus and Hera sense or the talking snake in the garden sense. Myth here means falsehood. The claim that the article makes is that falsehoods have been made about these so-called ministries. ...
Shuck and Jive - Mar 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2UNTP1xI-A&feature=relat Just per chance, I ran across the interview of the Tea Bagger who had his finger bitten off during a Town Hall meeting in California. The Clown with nine digits had thrown a couple of punches at a MoveOn member and some how got his pinky stuck in the guy’s grill. This little piggy went to market…. Medicare paid f...
Ablogination - Mar 6
Clean coal, eh? No such thing. The stuff is dirty from the cradle to the grave. Just consider coal ash. Over 130 million tons of this so-called coal combustion waste -- containing nearly 100,000 tons of toxic metals -- is produced every year, as a byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity at hundreds of U.S. power plants. And yet the stora...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Mar 6 - 2 clicks
Two women on Meet the Press ? Isn't that some kind of record? But this is a great find from the good old days when the patriarchal status quo was actually discussed on mainstream teevee. Thank you, Gloria Steinem! And Happy Women's History Month to all of us! Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy Gloria Steinem on Meet the Press, Sep...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Mar 6 - 3 clicks
I have spent the last two weeks running. Vibinc kept the fires going over at Speak to Power and Squirrel Queen was patient because last week, and for three days this week, I didn’t even have time to think. That could be good or it could be bad, one never knows until they get the hindsight [...]...
Newscoma - Mar 6 - 4 clicks
This is the ad that has caused conservatives to accuse Liz Cheney of practicing McCarthyism . In full sinister mode, the ad goes after lawyers for doing exactly what the American justice system requires that lawyers do. This little 1950s masterpiece comes from Liz Cheney's advocacy group Keep America Safe . Politics News McCarthyism ...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Mar 6 - 4 clicks
Craig Crawford has left MSNBC. I'm a fan of Crawford's. Scroll down for the video clip of Craig Crawford's famous critique of the frat-boy media for its primary hate-fest coverage that tagged Bill and Hillary Clinton as vile lowlife racist scum. After all this time, I still want to applaud and give Craig Crawford a rousing standing ovation for saying it. What he got was kicked off the MSNB...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Mar 5 - 5 clicks
President Obama may be about to ax Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s plan to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a civilian court, according to a story in the Washington Post. If so, the President will look weak, indecisive and foolish. And Republicans will be laughing all the way to the ballot box. Worse yet, David Kurtz over at the manly Talking Points Memo worries that Obama's attorney...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Mar 5 - 2 clicks
We celebrated Evolution Sunday , February 14th, the Sunday closest to Darwin's birthday. It was a lot of fun and we received some great publicity for it as well including this article in the Elizabethton Star. In today's Elizabethton Star another point of view is being presented. Harvest Baptist is celebrating Creation Sunday on March 7th. Here is the story : Harvest Baptist...
Shuck and Jive - Mar 5 - 7 clicks
There is a reason why the following poem by Hafiz rings true for so many of us today: The great religions are ships, Poets the life boats. Every sane person I know Has jumped overboard! That is good for business, Isn’t it, Hafiz? On Saturday, February 20th, the PCUSA made the Faith section of our local paper, the Johnson City Press. It was in regards to the survey the ...
Shuck and Jive - Mar 5 - 7 clicks
The Witherspoon Society is no more. It has been born again as Presbyterian Voices for Justice . This the result of the merger between Witherspoon and Voices of Sophia . I certainly am pleased that these two justice minded organizations within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are now one in holy union. But change is hard. It is going to take me some time to get used to this ...
Shuck and Jive - Mar 5
This song is dedicated to this guy, my next ex husband, Alexander Skarsgard. WE made it through another week, and it's time for bloggers and journalists around Tennessee to post a music video, and put aside their political and personal differences. My choice this week is a Marvin Gaye classic that makes me want to turn up the speakers and sing along--and so will I, and ...
SharonCobb.com - Mar 4 - 4 clicks
Like they keep saying on CNN, students haven't been seen acting like this since the 1960s. The protests against cuts to education -- or the National Day Of Action For Public Education -- are going on across the nation, in at least 32 states , but clearly California is leading the way. Lots of photos are here. CNN just reported that 120 arrests have been made at the ongoing demonstr...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Mar 4 - 2 clicks
We are sending ten high school students and four adults for a week with the Appalachia Service Project . We did the same last year . On March 14th we are having an auction/dinner fundraiser. Everyone on Planet Earth is welcome both to donate items and/or services and to bid on items and/or services! Snad has posted the news on the website : Join us after worship service...
Shuck and Jive - Mar 4
I am a total fan of the Reverend Billy Talen and his Stop the Shop-Ocolypse movement. He's morphed from a one man performance artist into the envy of itinerant revival preachers everywhere, with his excellent choir, seven piece band, and hair reaching toward heaven so high that he has moved to reduced its environmental impact by embracing green hair care. Stunning my follicles into submission ...
WhitesCreek Journal - Mar 4
(File Photo courtesy of The El Paso Times circa 2000) When my dear friend, Doug Bowe, called to tell me that Charlie only had days to live, I wanted to call him, but Doug said Charlie was in a hospice and they had him out of it on drugs. El Paso. Like so many of us, our lives revolved around KELP Radio, (although I was the only girl...and I do mean girl...I was around 8 when I started hang...
SharonCobb.com - Mar 4 - 2 clicks
Add stiff tuition hikes and severe funding cuts to the hard financial times students were already experiencing and you have some very frustrated and angry students . From the University of Memphis to California's Berkeley campus, students and faculty will stage protests across the nation today - in at least 29 states. Teachers, parents and students at k-12 schools will also...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Mar 4 - 2 clicks
The National Enquirer is reporting that John Edwards is terrified and with good reason since an "indictment is imminent." The tabloid is the go-to source for all things Edwards related: The grand jury has been meeting since April 2009, and insiders say an indictment is imminent. "John is terrified that he's going to be indicted," a friend told The ENQUIRER. . "While he believes he's done...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Mar 4 - 3 clicks
Quote of the Day "President Obama's comments .. condoning the mass firing of the Central Falls High School teachers do not reflect the reality on the ground and completely ignore the teachers' significant commitment to working with others to transform this school. We know it is tempting for people in Washington to score political points by scapegoating teachers, but it does nothing to...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Mar 3 - 3 clicks
I salute my colleagues at Dumbarton UMC in Washington. Here is the story . A United Methodist congregation in Washington, D.C., has vowed to celebrate same-sex weddings, putting itself at odds with other Christian churches protesting the District of Columbia 's new marriage equality law. The pastor and 12 other ordained clergy who attend Dumbarton United Methodist Church in Georgeto...
Shuck and Jive - Mar 3 - 2 clicks
They come few and far between, so celebrate when you can ! WASHINGTON (AP) -- Same-sex couples can start applying for marriage licenses in Washington. At least 16 couples were waiting at a courthouse today for the city's marriage bureau to open at 8:30 a.m. Court officials have been told to expect up to 200 people. Forty-one-year-old Sinjoyla Townsend and her partner of 12 ye...
Shuck and Jive - Mar 3
Your Badge DEA officer stops at a ranch in Texas, and talks with an old rancher. He tells the rancher, "I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs." The rancher says, "Okay , but do not go in that field over there," as he points out the location. The DEA officer verbally explodes saying, " Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me." Reaching into his rear p...
SharonCobb.com - Mar 3 - 2 clicks
New York (CNN) -- The son of a founder of the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, Tuesday told CNN that he was a spy for Israel. For 10 years, Mosab Yousef said he gathered information about Hamas terrorist plots and fed them to Israel's domestic security service Shin Bet. Yousef, in an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, said he did it because he came to believe that Hamas wa...
SharonCobb.com - Mar 2 - 3 clicks
Sunday 28th March 2010 - Jobing.com Arena, Phoenix, Arizona, USA Tickets & VIP Tuesday 30th March 2010 - Hollywood Bowl, LA, California, USA Tickets & VIP Wednesday 31st March 2010 - Hollywood Bowl, LA, California, USA Tickets & VIP Saturday 3rd April 2010 - Sun Life Stadium, Miami (On sale Monday 8th March 10am - Pre-sale Tuesday 2nd March 10am EST, Code:PMFAN Click Here ) Monday 5th April 20...
SharonCobb.com - Mar 2 - 3 clicks
Stop Being So Religious What Do sad people have in Common? It seems They have all built a shrine To the past And often go there And do a strange wail and Worship. What is the beginning of Happiness? It is to stop being So religious Like That. The Gift: Poems By Hafiz The Great Sufi Master , p. 119 ...
Shuck and Jive - Mar 2
I read a letter to the LayMAN which included the line: Our denomination’s seminaries, which are supposed to be bastions of Christian learning, are instead undermining our future pastors’ confidence in the Scriptures.... The author of the letter thought it a horrible thing. Many letters and editorials echo this lament . I thought, "Amen. The seminaries are doing their jobs." As C...
Shuck and Jive - Mar 1 - 3 clicks
I Want to be An Ancestor John Shuck First Presbyterian Church Elizabethton , Tennessee February 28 th , 2010 Second Sunday of Lent Genesis 15:1-12; 17-18 Luke 13:31-35 The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will be meeting in Minneapolis in a few months. Once every two years Presbyterians gather to celebrate, lament, and make decisions in a revelry of Roberts Rule...
Shuck and Jive - Feb 28 - 8 clicks
We live in a frantic time. There is so much information available that it’s hard to find one small rein on the horse to hang on to. We text, we email, we Facebook and we twitter. Websites, blogs and forums have about three seconds to grab a reader’s attention. Once that three seconds is over, poof! [...]...
Newscoma - Feb 28 - 3 clicks
Howdy. I know I haven’t been blogging much here. It feels like I’ve been writing everywhere but here but that is groovy, I guess. This is that time of year I usually take a break, mentally at least. Tomorrow is the anniversary of my mom’s death. As I do every year, I’m processing it, processing my life [...]...
Newscoma - Feb 27 - 3 clicks
On the Sabbath try and make no noise that goes beyond your house. Cries of passion between lovers are exempt. --St. Thomas Aquinas Found in Samir Selmanovic , It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian , p. 108. ...
Shuck and Jive - Feb 27 - 4 clicks
More Light Presbyterians is posting the video, God's Whole Family on Youtube. I posted links to parts one and two earlier in this post, To Those Who Work For Justice . Here are parts three and four . These videos show why it is important for congregations to state their welcome to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Affiliating with More Light Pres...
Shuck and Jive - Feb 27
This article was in the Faith section of today's Johnson City Press. SMITHFIELD, N.C. — Vickie Jordan and her husband, Eddie, were all set to open a gun store in Smithfield, but they were missing one thing: the name. “I went to bed one night and was real apprehensive because we couldn’t come up with a name,” Vickie Jordan recalled. When she finally got to ...
Shuck and Jive - Feb 27 - 7 clicks
With the recent suicide of Andrew Koenig dominating the news, seeing the impact of how his depression and death has impacted his parents is devastating. Raincoaster reports on it. Depression is a wicked and dangerous beast, there is no doubt. ...
Newscoma - Feb 27 - 3 clicks
I got your feel good friday right here, you magnificent cabbages. ...
Newscoma - Feb 26 - 2 clicks
A small kid stood in front of me at a convenience store today as I was trying to pay for gas as I was headed out of Memphis back to Hoots Commons. He was tow-headed and about six-years-old. “Today was say something nice about someone day at school, Mama,” he lisped. “Did you say something nice.” “I did. I [...]...
Newscoma - Feb 25 - 3 clicks
Sen. Lamar Alexander, the dazed and confused Senator from East Tennessee, has accomplished nothing in his entire career. Now, we find him working even harder at accomplishing even less…. Lamar Alexander cares nothing for the people of Tennessee. That much has become abundantly clear. He is a reclusive, beltway insider politician who has been proven to be out of touch and out to lunch ...
Ablogination - Feb 25 - 5 clicks
I am 44-years-old. I have some amazing good times and then sometimes dark things happen that we all go through. I have been blessed this week with good fortune. On the other hand, I am still reeling from events that I’m still recovering from. Occasionally I find my voice, other times I realize the battle is [...]...
Newscoma - Feb 24
Today the City Council Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, these ordinances will now go before the full body for three readings before final approval. There is still no word on where the Exempt zones where passive panhandling will be located. Still it's important that the passage of laws and the conducting of public business be done in a manner that does not cater to divisive fears an...
Confessions of a West Tennessee Liberal - Feb 23 - 2 clicks
Yep… 1) Like, OMG, Gag me with a Hot Dog: Some insignificant group of malcontents at American Academy of Pediatrics has suggested that we should change the shape of hot dogs because they’re afraid children might choke on them. ….People, just shut the fuck up. You remind me of PETA and the fly swatting incident. You’re idiots with too much time on your han...
Ablogination - Feb 23
I'll flip the cover off when I am Skype-ing my son in New Zealand or on conference calls. Other than that... These people ought to serve some time. I don't care what their motives were. The T-shirt...
WhitesCreek Journal - Feb 23 - 2 clicks
Again, I resisted but eventually succumbed. Just like with Twitter. Yes, I have joined Facebook. And yesterday I managed to find my fourth and fifth grade class photos from Lutherville Elementary School in Maryland. (I’m in the third row, third from left in the denim jacket) My biggest memory that year was sitting in Mr. Kimmel’s room one [...]...
Left Of The Dial - Feb 22
With a tip of the hat to Steve Ross who did the morning round-up today at Speak to Power, we find a story by Smart City Memphis on what would happen if local news was more positive. I encourage you to read the whole thing first and then come back here. I’ll wait. The term of “if [...]...
Newscoma - Feb 21 - 4 clicks
I’ve been in Hoots for a few days but I’m heading back to Memphis. Big doings down there and to be honest, it’s kind of weird having one foot in Hoots and one foot there. I’m adjusting to it but it’s kind of weird. The S.A.D has kind of broken with actual blue skies breaking through [...]...
Newscoma - Feb 20 - 5 clicks
It is said that bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny, if that be the case then the new ordinances proposed by the Center City Commission definately apply. These new laws would outlaw the sale of single beers and create a NO-panhandling zone with the boundaries of a small part of the Central Business Improvement District or CBID for short.These laws would allegedly have the effect of curbing Agg...
Confessions of a West Tennessee Liberal - Feb 19
In the wake of another mind numbingly stupid comment from my ex-senator Fred Thompson on how "Glo-Warm" is the fault of some lost notes by a climate scientist, I thought I would share these visionary words from someone we all know: addressing climate change will require massive investments in innovation aimed at creating the “energy miracles” needed to develop zero-carbon energy sources. ...
WhitesCreek Journal - Feb 19
The worst laws passed in history are those passed based on broad appeals to emotion without a clear and objective view of the situation and solutions. The two new proposed ordinances sponsored by the Center City Commission stand as the latest local examples of this phenomenon. They include the creation of a Single beer ban and the expansion of the local panhandling ordinance to create a ANTI-PANH...
Confessions of a West Tennessee Liberal - Feb 17
The 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870. It states that the, "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." The women's movement had strongly supported the abolishment of slavery but split with the abolitionists movement when it supported dropping women's rights ...
WhitesCreek Journal - Feb 16
Whoa! This is from the Pew Research. I wonder how long it will be before we'll see all the media and public opinion manipulators have to switch to a new message? Climate Patriots from Laura Lightbody on Vimeo. Thanks to Kleinheider...
WhitesCreek Journal - Feb 15
On Smart City Memphis, many of us make things sound easy. Let's just build dense, walkable neighborhoods. Let's just remove bus fares and make the routes go here or there. Let's tear down the rest of the public housing and humanly integrate "those people" into "normal neighborhoods". We know why things are messed up, how to make things right and are mad as hell that things aren't cha...
Smart City Memphis - Feb 15 - 2 clicks
Is this a Pine Warbler? It has a rump patch of that same buff yellow that shows when it flies. I can't match this beastie up with any of my reference pictures. It ignores the seeds and loves the suet feeder. ...
WhitesCreek Journal - Feb 12 - 2 clicks
I've enjoyed watching this guy since the first time I saw him compete back in 2002. There's something about the bad boy head to head sports that sets them apart from glitter and judge events. His dad got him into sports to keep him from being a latch key kid after the mom left. He was chunky as a kid and still fights the weight problem if he's not training. He's been involved in international ...
WhitesCreek Journal - Feb 11 - 2 clicks
Professional jealousy, started a rumour And then it extended, to be more abuse What started out as just, black propaganda Was one day seen to be, believed as truth They say the truth is, stranger than fiction But a lie is more, deadly than sin It can make a man very, bitter and angry When he thinks that there’s someone, is going [...]...
Left Of The Dial - Feb 10
Five years ago today I launched Enclave with a quote from and reflection on Peter Taylor : As one walks or rides down any street in Nashville one can feel now and again that he has just glimpsed some pedestrian on the sidewalk who was not quite real somehow, who with a glance over his shoulder or with a look of a disenchanted eye has warned one not to believe too much in the plastic present ...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Feb 8 - 2 clicks
Is Metro General the African American budget line item and is Vivian Wilhoite the African American choice for Juvenile Court Clerk? Does a certain mainstream media columnist write of certain ethnic communities as if they are monolithic special interests? ...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Feb 8
It really does not matter whether anyone at the Tennessean ever told Michael Cass what or how to report on the Mayor's Music City Center project. What matters is that the Tennessean donated $15,000 to the Music City Center Coalition and that Mr. Cass wrote stories on the project that were part of a free publicity portfolio complete with air-brushed galleries of the MCC concept. Michael Cass ...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Feb 8
What nightmares youthful indiscretions can cause in other people's homes: Tired of years of public urination, assaults and vandalism, residents near UC Berkeley's southern edge last week sued dozens of the university's fraternities. The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court against more than 70 groups and property owners, contends that the fraternities make life miserable for neighbo...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Feb 7
Nobel-prize winner Paul Krugman on constant whining about assumed market fragility : Gah. I hate, hate, hate it when people say that we have to do something, not on its merits, but because otherwise we would damage market confidence. Nobody really knows how the markets will react ...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Feb 7
Mayor Karl Dean's best answer to fixing Metro schools has been to promote the charter school fad, the hot latest big distraction in public education. Well, a new report on charter schools in 40 states and the District of Columbia reveals information about them more ominous than the probability that they cause governments to take their eye off the ball: The report found that charter schools ...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Feb 7
