I saw this photo in a box the other day and thought I’d post it on my birthday.

That’s me as an eighth-grader, if we’re to believe the date printed in the corner, but I know sometimes cameras with that “feature” were off.

I love the expression on my face, which is a great combination of relaxation and confidence.

Whoever took the picture made sure to squeeze in plenty of the wall, along with that beautiful lamp stand / newspaper depository.

The guy on the left is Hugh Ivis, my mother’s second husband’s father.

In his lap is Coco the Pomeranian. She was a very fluffy dog, but not all that friendly, and you could consider it a success if she would lick your hand once and/or let you pet her head once, at most twice, during any given visit to their home. Of course, this contact was predicated on the agreement that you would have been stretched out on the floor and completely motionless for upwards of 30 minutes.

Grandpa Ivis is deceased, as I’m sure Coco is. There’s no telling what happened to the gnome.

Have you seen the commercial airing lately where a couple driving down the road stops to pick up a hitchhiker holding a case of Bud Light… and an axe?

That spot came to mind this morning when I saw that Rep. Steve Cohen broke with the majority of his party and joined Republicans in adding an anti-terrorism clause to the transportation bill (hat tip to A.C. at Fore Left). The added language protects airline passengers from lawsuits, such as the “John Doe” travelers being targeted by a group of six Islamic imams. Apparently, the passengers had observed odd and suspicious, terrorist-like behavior aboard the flight and reported it to airline officials. They are now being taken to court… on exactly what grounds, I’m not sure. The amendment is retroactive to the date of that flight, Nov. 20, 2006.

A good question for Rep. Cohen is this: why does your party find it important to withhold protection from concerned citizens who are merely following the advice of our government, which has asked us all to be alert to potential terrorist threats?

For whatever reason, Democrats would be happy to see the woman in the Bud Light commercial sued for merely stating the obvious: “…but he has an axe!” There’s a great punch line at the end of the ad, and if you haven’t watched it yet, you can view it below the fold. The Democratic Party, meanwhile, is busy making itself the real punchline.

(more…)

Good news for The Memphis Flyer; bad news for Liberty. I think it’s time we check opensecrets.org and validate our assumptions about which party is on the take from Big Mesh.

UPDATE: This pledge drive is only a stop-gap measure, but it’s a good start.

Too subtle? Nah.

See also: Mitt Romney

UPDATE: Oops, these signs apparently already exist.

Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis has voted in favor of HR 1591, a supplemental appropriations bill that funds the war in Iraq (though it also adds regulations designed to hinder the military’s ability to wage it and sets an arbitrary date for withdrawal).

In the days leading up to the vote, Rep. Cohen said he was “conflicted” about the decision and took to the floor to vocalize his ambivalence, saying he hoped his constituents would call his office with their input.

On the eve of the vote, The Hill published an article listing Cohen as one of two Democrats “who were once dead-set against voting for the bill” but had recently shifted into the “undecided column.”

It’s a curious evolution by Cohen, who had already heard plenty from his anti-war constituents almost exactly one month earlier at a town hall meeting, where he vowed, “My hands are not tainted with a vote for this war, and I don’t plan to get them tainted.”

At the time, Cohen explained his opposition to funding the troops, saying:

There are Democrats that I hear regularly that are fearful, politically, that if we don’t fund the-the troops, that people will see this as our causing the failure in Iraq, and they say, “this is Bush’s war, and if we do this, he will make it our defeat.” I don’t buy that.

The liberal base will no doubt forgive him for this about face, given language in the resolution that, as autoegocrat states, “puts Cohen in the clear to do whatever he likes.”

UPDATE: Donna Brazile offers the official “my constituents made me do it” defense.

CA: Edwards continues ‘08 presidential run

Recent examples of alleged political corruption in Memphis include bribery, dead voters swinging elections, race-based campaigning, and now preferential treatment granted by the public utility over a delinquent account… and that’s just one family!

Much has been said about Memphis Light Gas and Water’s “Third Party Notification” list, which included the names of several politicians, journalists and other public figures, and allowed utility officials to be alerted when any of these folks had problems with their personal accounts. While the very idea of this alert system might seem shady to some, it really only became a problem once Memphis discovered that MLGW has been protecting one city councilman on the list who had months of overdue bills and owed the utility thousands of dollars. Now both the councilman and the utility CEO are under fire.

Friday’s New York Times article, however, calls the notification system “a protected list… intended to prevent [certain individuals] from having their power cut off in case of nonpayment.”

From what I understand, the list was set up by former CEO Herman Morris (now a candidate for Mayor) not in order to protect certain prominent customers, but rather to notify upper management of any problems.

According to the Commercial Appeal, Morris asked his staff to develop a list of customers that would require his awareness, following a complaint by one of the paper’s editors. In other words, the list was created in response to a public relations crisis and was intended to protect the utility from damage to its reputation among opinion drivers and policy makers, rather than to protect politicians and insiders from service interruptions.

How such a list may have been used and abused by a succeeding administration is quite another story.

As this news was first breaking, Mayor Herenton tellingly admitted that MLGW was suffering from a “public relations problem.” It’s ironic that such a problem would arise from a policy intended to prevent one in the first place. But it’s a problem that Herenton himself shares, and not only in this context.

It seems our friends at the New York Times, and plenty others here in Memphis, fail to grasp the full implications of what it could mean for the city if it were to replace the current mayor this year with someone who is infinitely better at managing media meltdowns.

While Morris created a system to deal appropriately with the most influential customers, Mayor Herenton and his cronies at MLGW managed to turn a PR tool into a public disaster.

Interestingly, Herenton is asking his supporters to encourage him to “stay on the wall,” while Morris has offered himself as a “bridge.”

And though other candidates may influence the result, it seems this year voters will decide mainly between these two structural elements, and determine which is more appropriate to the bluff city.

No, this isn’t a photo from behind the scenes of Dumb and Dumbererer, it’s just me and the infamous Tom Guleff of Joe Citizens. Thanks to Bill Wood for the pic.

I think someone’s just trying to win an award; what do you think?

The Washington Post reports today that some Republican congressmen are defecting from the No Child Left Behind Act, citing “unacceptably onerous” burdens and red tape. Under their new plan, as drafted in House and Senate bills, state governments “could decide that the state would no longer abide by the strict rules on testing and curriculum” and that “[in] both cases, the states that opt out would still be eligible for federal funding.”

Tom Maguire has already coined a phrase for the new GOP plan: Some Children Left Behind.

Incredibly, the Republicans have managed to drive policy further Left than many Democrats who at least agree to the basic formula, even if they consider NCLB an “unfunded mandate.” These 50-some GOP members of the House and Senate are pushing for a rules change that could be considered “unmandated funds.” Yay, free money!

Let’s put that in graphical form.

Exhibit one is No Child Left Behind. The Feds send money to schools, and in response the schools meet certain national educational standards.

Exhibit two is the new GOP plan. Here the Feds send money to schools, and then more money.

A similar proposal is surfacing here in Tennessee, where legislators want to water down the standards for the new Tennessee Lottery Scholarships (soon to be known as the Steve Cohen Scholarships, I understand).

To obtain the scholarships, graduating high-school seniors must have a 3.0 grade point average or score a 21 on the ACT. Students must maintain that B average in college in order to continue receiving $3,800 each academic year.

Now politicians such as Shelby County Mayor A.C. Wharton are unhappy that 64% of recipients lose the scholarship within two years, and they aren’t content with simply lowering the GPA requirement to 2.75. Despite the fact that the same standards and benefits apply to all students, Wharton claims “famililes with lower incomes [are] benefiting less than families with higher incomes.”

Their ultimate solution, of course, is to do away with the requirements altogether and simply hand out the cash. Yay, free money!

You can see a glimpse of that in Governor Bredesen’s new proposal that the State guarantee free tuition at Tennessee community colleges for the next tier of students.

According to Charles Manning, a chancellor at the Tennessee Board of Regents, the free community college program would be a “form of the lottery but for ‘C’ students.”

But what happens when the lottery scholarship starts applying to C students?

Despite what proponents now say about the possibility that “high expectations might motivate students to raise scores,” both programs eventually will apply to all students, regardless of their scholastic achievements and efforts.

Manning is quoted as saying, “We have to lift up our performance expectations by telling students that they have to change their behaviors and get better scores.”

Or we could ignore the motivational aspect of these programs’ requirements and standards altogether and just start writing checks. Yay, free money!

Who cares about accountability when we’ve got children to edjukate?

UPDATE: I appreciate the response at Volunteer Voters.

UPDATE II: I should have known the WaPo report would be less than complete. While I’m still unable to find the bill number at thomas.loc.gov or opencongress.org, I did find a detailed description of the GOP plan at Sen. Jim DeMint’s website. There, you’ll find that standards and accountability haven’t gone out the window — it’s actually a good bill, and provides for more local control. My apologies to the bill’s sponsors.

UPDATE III: More from DeMint at National Review.