Newscoma

Tennessee politics can be a very interesting thing. This year we have seen the Jason Mumpower/Kent Williams hootenanny, a crowded race for governor on both sides of the spectrum (I’m not talking about that one) and this week’s hokey pokey with the announcement of John Tanner citing he wasn’t going to run for another term, thus ending two decades in Washington.

Freddy Freddie O’Connell wrote today about Roy Herron throwing his hat into the congressional race and I do think it’s because he always wanted to run for the 8th. It’s been pretty much common knowledge around “these parts” for a long time as I wrote about earlier this week. I sat at a middle school basketball game last night and even folks who could care less about politics where talking about this. (Always remember, you will meet real voters at things like this. Nine times out of 10, if you are at a community event, a coffee shop or even a bar, you are going to hear what people are really thinking and they honestly only care about the election when it gets into the meat of it.)  The overall theme was that Roy has wanted to run for that seat for a long time. No one was really surprised that he went for it within hours of John Tanner’s retirement presser.

Now onto the primary as I’ve been thinking about it and talking to other political junkies here in Hoots where we’ve discussed this. You know, this race is going to have four primary television markets and I do believe that the national GOP is watching this carefully. You are going to have Nashville, Memphis, Jackson and add into the mix a bit of WPSD in Paducah which is a huge source in the upper corner here in northwest Tennessee. Two small markets and two huge television markets which are going to add up to some big dough-re-mi. That is most likely going to be on the mind of anyone even thinking about getting into the primary race.

One thing that John Tanner did very selflessly is give a one-year’s notice because whoever runs in this primary is going to have to have some jack. Already there is talk of a Dr. Ron Kirkland seeking the GOP slot out of Jackson. Other candidates names being tossed around for the Dems are Philip Pinion, Doug Jackson, Judy Barker and Mary Kate Ridgeway (and in the spirit of disclosure, I used to work for her husband, Don, when I was a program coordinator at NWTEDC.) More names will pop up in the next few days, I’m sure. The domino effect will also be into play regarding the 24th state senate seat. Who will seek the 24th if Roy were to win? If that person is already in office, and as an example of Barker/Jackson who haven’t decided yet to run or Mark Maddox who says he won’t seek John’s seat, who will seek their office if that scenario were to come to fruition? I’m thinking long term here, of course. And I’m not really talking about Jimmy Naifeh because I just don’t know if seeking this seat at 70 years-old is going to happen. Who knows? Willie Herenton says he will run against Steve Cohen, so one never knows a definitive answer with those two guys.

No one wants to talk about money for campaign races during economic times like these. And with this one getting national attention, you can bet the  parties in Washington are observing carefully what what is being said around the state. I also believe, because of the 8th’s high visibility, that we are going to see Mainstream Media more involved in this race. Sometimes they get involved, other times they don’t. As of this morning and since Tuesday, there were more than 300 news stories on Google talking about Tanner. He is a co-creator of the Blue Dog Democrats. He has the NATO thing going on. This time, I think you are going to hear a lot of traditional press.

The bottom line in this early time in the game is that this race is going to take a great deal of funding, it’s going to get a lot of attention and those Republicrats that tended to vote for Tanner (and they did) are going to be weighing their vote more heavily because this area has suffered huge job losses in recent history which is much of what I’m hearing being discussed. Tanner is what they knew and although not everyone adored him, he was well liked creating almost a new brand of voters for those in the middle who weren’t tied to a party line all the time for the past 20 years.

With what appears might be a crowded field on both sides, it’s going to take a lot of cash to get attention to win that seat.

It is the week of Halloween and Dan Lehr reminded me this morning that I need to point you to Aunt B.’s ghost stories from Nashville. They are a sight to see, well textured and really wonderful. Get on over there later today when you have your jammies on and read them all.

There are ghosts here. They were real people that made huge contributions to this town, molding it in ways that sometimes I agree with, and other times I don’t. This is the case of every town. It is a part of every community.

I consider Hoots as a county, and even moreso as a state of mind here in northwest Tennessee. So I will tell you that once Martin was named Frost Depot, or as my grandmother called it, simply Frost. The oral history tells us that the name was changed, and ironically, My $10 attorney, Mr. Bob, currently lives in the original Martin  home. He’s never said, but I am assuming the name was changed to prestige and money during economically depressed times due to vanity, but that is just my uninformed opinion. He was an alderman here for years and now I love to listen to him tell the tales of the bootleggers who were plentiful around the county, the juke joints, the way the economy has ebbed and flowed over the last 50 years. Yellow fever decimated the community over 100 years ago, and a cemetery sits down the road from the locally-owned Dairy Queen which is really the only DQ I will eat at. Gravy and french fries? Shut yo’ mouth, they are exquisite. The tombstones at the Yellow Fever Cemetery stand high on the small, crowded street and, as a child, its normalcy in the middle of a residential area somewhat frightened me.

There is the man that still wears the hat that Fats Everett gave him whose name is simply Smokey. A straw fedora that has seen better years, but that sat on the head of a man who statue sits on the grounds of the Obion Co. Courthouse.To put the age of Smokey into context, let’s remember that Fats died when I was three.

She is at least 80-years-old but she is regal, her hair done once a week at the beauty shop and her tart tongue is active as ever. She is named Mrs. Jane. She is still self-sufficient although she recently fought a tough bout with cancer, that

Reavis' still sets on the courtsquare

she told me she calls the “rotting” disease. She was the editor at one of the newspapers during WWII, and when the men returned from battle, she lost her job. She was a female editor that kept a town informed and together. As the soldiers returned, she was relegated to a secretarial role at her local church. She never looked back.

She is a hero for all women, although she would shush me if I said that to her.

The pies were made in the early morning hours, and the fellowship of the City Cafe, owned by Ned’s mom Lucille, were where the menfolk would gather to discuss the gossip of the day is now a Cash Advance place. It was a strong cup of hot coffee and a fresh-made piece of pie. The pies were womens’ work. They were and there is no getting around it. Widows, including my maternal great-grandmother, would get up in the early morning hours and make dozens of pies to head to the local cafes. There was never a misstep. They were always perfect. Not only did they raise families, they were a part of the town’s daily culture without even knowing it.

Every cemetery has a story. Of the man who was buried north to south instead of the traditional east to west due to the rape of a woman. He was buried so he would not be able to join the other spirits during the Rapture. Superstitions are firmly in place in the state of mind of Hoots. These tales have not changed when it comes to the obsessive habits of the community. I don’t think, however, that anyone has been buried north to south in nearly 100 years but I could be wrong. One never knows what happens in the shadows of a small town.

Our population in northwest Tennessee is small, yet our farms are strong. We have powerful voices, and smaller, behind the scenes advocates that we won’t get lost in the shuffle in this economy as we did during the depression. We fed ourselves, we have some moxie and we remember our dead. We know that one day, that we wish to be remembered as well.

Our ghosts are on every corner. We treat them well.

Cuppa sent me an email and has a great post of his ten favorite movie characters and asked me if I wanted to join in.

Well, hell to the yes!

I found a movie question on the Cinebeats blog which is almost impossible for me to answer — maybe you can answer it easier than I — Name your Top Ten Film Characters. Her choices are perfectly eclectic. My brain hurts from trying to make decisions on this one. It is mighty complex given my love of all things cinematic from so many decades of films to consider.

I’m in! I’m in!

1. THE STRANGER: I don’t know why I love High Plains Drifter as much as I do, but it’s one of those movies I cannot look away from. And part of that reason is The Stranger. Is Clint Eastwood’s character the devil, is her the spirit of the dead marshall or is he just one mean mofo. Eastwood’s character is despicable at times, but you get very early on his vengeance is not going to be pretty.

2. ATTICUS FINCH: Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch is flawless in To Kill A Mockingbird. No arguing with me on this one.

3. TEQUILA : When I received Joe’s email, Tequila from Hard Boiled came to mind immediately. Then I noticed that Joe had named him as well. Joe and I think a lot. If you haven’t seen Hard Boiled and the wonderful Chow Yun Fat in this role, you have not only missed something special and wonderful, but I might have to come to your house and MAKE you watch it. I will bring a stick with me if you refuse my wishes. He’s funny, there are babies and guns, there is a smidgen of romance that isn’t overwhelming but it was the bond with Tony Leung that works. A buddy movie that isn’t anything like a buddy movie at all. And, by god, even when babies are flying, you cannot look away. (No babies hurt in this movie, so don’t worry about that.)

4. Harold AND Maude: I saw this movie when I was a kid and it made an impression on me for some reason. When people ask me what my favorite movie is, I usually say Harold and Maude. Both characters worked beautifully together. I love Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort was perfect in this black comedy and the soundtrack from Cat Stevens worked perfectly. Hal Ashby said this movie was about youth culture. As I get older, it still works for me. I’m an odd bird.

5.MINNIE CASTAVET: Rosemary’s Baby is exactly like the book. You don’t see that happen very often and Ruth Gordon was Minnie Castavet. The whole movie is 60’s trippy and I have probably seen it about ten times. Castavet was pushy, cranky and evil. The scene in the movie where Castavet and her coven buddy barrel their way into Mia Farrow’s apartment and start knitting always cracks me up. She won the Academy Award and deservedly so.

6. AMELIE POULAIN : Audrey Tautou was so good in Amelie that I wanted to just snuggle with her. Yes, she was that good. Whimsy and sexiness together are quite a combination indeed, and Tautou pulls it off perfectly. I love this film and I loved the character of Amelie. I can’t really explain this movie properly. Just go see it if you haven’t and do not get the dubbed version because that’s just wrong.

7. THE HANSON BROTHERS : Slapshot is awesome. Paul Newman is the GUY but the movie characters simply known as The Hanson Brothers stole the show. I love Hockey (I really miss the Nashville Knights) which was enthusiastic drunken hockey experience that I enjoyed in my youth as I am older than some (and younger than others.) Slapshot is one of those films that epitimized the 70’s better than most, with drug-taking, cigarette-smoking, self-grandizing that is just about perfect. I like sports movies (including Bull Durham which has the wonderful Crash Davis in it) but this iconic film is basically perfect in every way. However, no characters have ever measured up to the fighting Hanson Brothers.

8. HARRY POWELL: Robert Mitchum was Harry Powell. Night of the Hunter just doesn’t get the respect it deserves and for me to pick a character that is batshit crazy may seen a little odd. Powell killed people, totally sexually destroyed Shelley Winter’s character Willa Harper and got beat by a little old lady named Rachel Cooper played by Lillian Gish. And he completely, till this day, freaks me out. Based on a true story, Mitchum played the charming manipulator in a way that still creeps me out. Anytime I see anyone with tattoos on their fingers, I think of Harry Powell.

9. VERBAL KINT/KEYSER SOZE: Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects was so exquisitely wonderful that it’s hard for me not to applaud every time I see this film. From a disabled loser named Kint who uses a bulletin board to give himself names to tell the legendary tale of Soze, you believe that it’s all up and up. I have to say I’m glad I saw this film before spoilers became so prevalent on the Internet because the end was delicious.

10. KUWABATAKE SANJURO : However, let’s go a little further and say this was the original man with no name, as the ronin basically makes up his name while looking in the distance, and with a little research we find that Kuwabatake Sanjuro basically is a number and mulberry field. Hot damn this is a good movie! Oh, Toshiro Mifune, how I love you in everything you do from the Seven Samurai to Yojimbo. And today, for reasons I cannot explain, I choose Yojimbo. Mifune, directed by Akira Kurosawa, eyes the battling warlords while being a shlub, for lack of better term, and his deceptive nature pays off as he cleverly compiles a plan to keep the peace by letting them fight it out with each other, ultimately killing everyone who is the “bad” guy. And there is the dog with a severed human hand in it’s mouth, extra bonus goodness when you see the expression on Sanjuro’s face.

This is fabulous. Just fabulous.

From Chicken Crap

I don’t know why this showed up in my Google Reader, but dammit it all, if it didn’t make me laugh. I don’t know anything about this blogger, but he made me keel over and spew beer out my nose.

I present to you The Godzilla/Mothra Letters.

Dear Mothra,

I haven’t been able to form sentences for days. I just get up, walk around and go to sleep again after a certain number of hours have passed. I mostly dream about kaiju who are dead or who no longer talk to me. I woke up with Gorillaz playing in my headphones and I had moisture running down my face but I didn’t remember crying in my dream. It was a good song. The tears were atomic and I saw the earth was on fire around me and glowing. It was pretty but even my dreams cause pain and suffering because wild animals were running from the devastation. Somebody was hiding in the forest nearby and I could tell from the bits of narration I overheard it was a documentary crew with some documentary maker. I destroyed him and his crew with my spiral ray. I think it might have been Michael Moore. Somebody fat and self-righteous anyway.

Dear Godzilla,

Are you sad to be a monster?

You betcha there is more.

Holy crap. That’s brilliant.

You know where I’m going with this, don’t you?

A boy has married a dog in India to ward off evil spirits.

An infant boy was married off to his neighbors’ dog in eastern India by villagers, who said it will stop the groom from being killed by wild animals, officials and witnesses said on Wednesday.

Alrighty then, who wants to marry one of the puppies? I will personally hold you a wedding filled with PBR, Kibble and you have to take your betrothed home. Mabel will be the justice of the peace.

W00T! Why didn’t I think of this?

Now, with that said, the marriage in India is not legal and just a ritual.

We can do that.

These puppies ward off evil spirits. I know this. They run me off some of the time by the mere smell of them. (They haven’t advanced to that cute puppy smell yet, but it’s coming.)

I take thee in ritual to be person and puppy.

Before I get all political here, I want to remind you that my grandfather (and most of Hoots’ residents that have a little bit of age on them) were in the generation of Gov. Ned McWherter. He still lives here most of the time and hasn’t been feeling so hot for awhile. So when I’m talking about politics, I remember the gravy years of having a powerful politician advocating for northwest Tennessee in the house and finally in the governor’s mansion, advising former President Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

Gore’s mother is from the county of Hoots. Just a bit of history for you here, nothing more, nothing less.

Then times changed as they always do. The glorious years of an aligned coalition of west Tennessee politicians lost its oomph.

But then we had Joe Hill. I’ve spoken about Hill before who was the Go-To-Guy in Rep. John Tanner’s office here locally. If anyone called him, he called us back. You needed something, if there was a way to get it, you could consider it done. From the little guy who lost his insurance and was suffering from cancer to political questions regarding how Tennessee would be impacted by certain votes in Washington.

He answered the questions candidly and didn’t run away from it. I have actually been critical with him at times and he was patient to explain the reasons why things were done they way they were.

That, my friends, is what we need in Nashville right now.

He kept up with political trends, the best way to communicate at the time and he just went with it starting his career with Ed. Jones. This wasn’t a flash in the pan kind of thing. It was consistent for decades.

I’ve been reading the blogosphere from yesterday from the anonymous commenter at Silence isn’t Golden, KAG’s response, Aunt B’s anger and then Mark breaking it down at Dork Nation which everyone needs to read.

I can only speak for my little corner of the world. I don’t know what’s going on in East Tennessee other than what I read from bloggers. My interaction with Shelby County comes from a fine group of people who communicate with huge props to Left Wing Cracker and Vibinc.

These are connections. Most of the people I’ve linked to above I have either met or corresponded with by email. Not all of them, but most of them.

KAG and Silence get it right and they are MSM in the state of Tennessee. Use the positive things you have or you are in for a mess of poo. They are telling you this and I commend them.

Joe Hill did that too in a different time of political communication. He found strong voices and he utilized them. Of course he was protecting his politician but that’s not the point. The point is that he held frequent and ongoing conversations. You can learn from the past and combine that knowledge into the future of this party.

The Scene writes:

Instead of whining about Obama, Tennessee Democrats should begin learning from him. The president-elect may be one of the Senate’s most liberal members. But he won a campaign with the ingredients of old school populism – health care, jobs, the rhetoric of economic fairness. They’re the kind of issues that can defy party lines, that resonate when Mom and Dad are figuring out how to pay the bills at the kitchen table. This is the stuff that can – gasp! – even get a black guy elected.

But if Tennessee Democrats continue sell themselves as Republican Lite – Motto: We’re Slightly Less Weird about Guns, God, and Abortion! – they’re likely sentencing themselves to an extended period of whining. Cheap facsimiles don’t exactly inspire people at the polls.

If you add the numbers of the views that those bloggers above get, then you are looking at a pretty nice block of people. And then as the message goes viral, it expands but it has to be done with intelligence and in a friendly manner that engages as well as is informative about the issues of Tennessee Democrats. In a large part, those bloggers listed above are already a block as most of us know each other anyway. You are losing out because I don’t think you get that whether you are around or not, we are having a conversation anyway.

Haven’t you figured that out yet?

We can learn from the Obama campaign, TNDP, if you think about it. So quit playing the blame game. It’s so Rovian.

Constructive criticism is important because people are not whipping your butt just to be whipping your butt. They are talking about something they feel passionate about.

I brought up the McWherter reference at the top because the gravy years of West Tennessee are long gone because those days of politics are over. It’s a new day. Conversation has changed in large part to the Internet and to blogging. TNDP, these are your eyes and ears on the ground.

I refer to Joe Hill because you need to calling him this very second as he is an elder statesmen of political management who was successful at it and could give you some sage advice about how everyone in this state has value and to treat them as such. Instead of whining at people who want to help, who want to be part of the political process despite the fact that they have jobs and families but are willing to give their time and voice to taking back the Assembly, don’t belittle them, embrace them. And take that blog of yours and give it a voice and a personality not just a bunch of press releases.

Of course, I suggest Sean Braisted to do that for you as your blog jockey because, in my opinion, he’s the right guy for the job because he engages in conversation about the issues of the democrats. And also, he is listening to the entire state, not just Nashville. He’s thick-skinned and passionate.

And he engages. Why more people aren’t using blog jockeys utterly amazes me.

So, I’ve done your homework for you, Sasser and friends.

The ball is in your court. If you just let it lie there, we will be talking about this again.

We do benefits. Lottie had to cut 1/3rd of the kids she usually helps at Christmas. So Tyson is giving us chicken, Budweiser is doing a beer tasting, Dirk Diggler is grilling said chicken and we are raising money.

Yep, we all do our part in Hoots! So if you are around Hooterville on Saturday, stop by and see us.

As I told the innertubes about 1000 times, the guy that drives the garbage truck, the dude delivering Miller Lite, the Republican on the street, nine advertisers and four bars, yesterday was my birthday. Let’s just say Hootervillians were kind last night making sure that I had presents, beer and a brand new camera (that rocks, I must add. My first touch screen on anything EVER.)

I didn’t watch the debate as carefully as I should have because birthday debauchery was at hand.

Homer did, however, and I have to tell you, One text to me called it “Fight Club.” The other one isn’t fit for this pseudo-family blog.

I’m the nice one in our tight knit sibling relationship.

I bring you her analysis:

“They BOTH didn’t answer the questions. McCain doesn’t get that there are people that don’t have seven houses. You lose three, you have four more. Government and taxes, not lack of work, is killing my small business. At least Obama answered that question of what I’m going to have to do during this crisis.”

She’s worried. She hasn’t been sleeping. She has business, that’s not the problem, but it’s taxes and health insurance that is kicking her butt.

We aren’t the only ones. Mack said it best in his post which I will send you to.

Homer has said several times during this election that she is tired of politicians talking down to her. She, and I for that matter, take care of budgets for companies. We are business people. We don’t get three martini lunches. We don’t have handlers and advisors.

Homer and I just work.

And, apparently, we aren’t going to get a bailout either. Sacrifice is fine, we don’t mind sacrificing. Our grandparents sacrificed. Our parents sacrificed.

But be up front about it, for crying out loud.

Vibinc breaks it down.

Americans are angry. We’re angry that government isn’t working for us. We don’t understand why someone, or a group of someone’s with so much, would ask for, and get a bailout when there are so many that have been left behind. The whole tenor of this “crisis” has been fevered, but no one has bothered to explain it to the average person. Why, after 28 years of economic policy that has favored the wealthy, should anyone want to go further into debt to help those very people? No one wants to answer that question, and so, many people are even angrier than they were that they have been seemingly forgotten for people who have gained so much.

I really would love to see politicians come to any Hooterville, not just mine, and listen to the average American, ’cause campers, they aren’t happy. I can write that here every day, preach about it and it still doesn’t change the fact that politicians do not pay attention.

But folks are paying attention, they just don’t have the luxuries that others are enjoying and what I mean by that is that I know people who are already eating Ramen Noodles and pinching pennies. Remember, TVA rates went up on Oct. 1.

What about those folks who have been left behind.

And I realize we are not only in an American crisis, but a global one.

It’s a freight train that has spun off the track years ago.

And who loses?

Us.

Let’s start with this:

In a letter that will be sent to Pelosi and Boehner, the Blue Dogs, led in this case by Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.), are calling for a future tax to be imposed on financial services companies if taxpayers lose money on the bailout package.

Tanner pitched the idea at a Blue Dog meeting on Wednesday, and again at a House Democrat Caucus on Thursday. Tanner is circulating a draft letter to Pelosi, Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The proposal will only become an official Blue Dog policy position if two-thirds of the group supports it, a threshold that hasn’t been reached yet.

Tanner and other Blue Dogs see this provision as an “insurance policy” for taxpayers, and it would amount to a 2 percent “fee” on taxable income of financial services firms.

“Prudent investors protect themselves when making high-risk investments. The taxpayer is essentially being asked to make a high-risk investment to provide much needed liquidity to the financial markets. As stewards of the taxpayer’s money, we should insure against any potential losses that might result from this action. For these reasons, we feel it is imperative Congress include a recoupment clause in TARP [Troubled Assets Relief Policy],” the Blue Dogs said in a draft letter to Pelosi, Boehner and Senate leaders. TARP is the formal name of the Wall Street bailout package.

I have to give a hat tip to Jon for this one, who writes this:

The Blue Dogs are really good to have around on an issue like this, and I might even say they’re the ideal people to look to here for leadership — representatives of the conservative taxpayer who nonetheless recognize that doing nothing isn’t an option, and aren’t inflexibly bound by a rigid dogma that retards their ideas.

Jon and I agree that this really is the only time we agree with the Blue Dogs philosophy because on how they vote on other issues.

We are going to bail out Wall Street. There isn’t any getting around it although the thought that this is happening on my version of Main Street, we will be doing it anyway. People are hurting everywhere and if one, and I mean, ONE, Wall Street exec gets a bonus for bad behavior, the local sheriff is just going to have to come and get me as I will be stopping traffic in the road.

With that said, I want oversights. I don’t want blank checks. And I want the little guys to be recognized.

I have to be accountable with the bank. So should the government and Wall Street.

8th District Congressman John Tanner is battling it out with fellow democrats according to the Memphis Flyer.

The topic? You guessed it.

Iraq.

Here’s what it says, campers.

The 9th District’s Steve Cohen isn’t the only local member of Congress to be in the middle of a verbal firefight these days. Tennessee’s 8th District congressman John Tanner, who represents part of Memphis and much of northern Shelby County, is feuding with fellow Democrats over a bipartisan measure he’s sponsoring to relax the terms of a congressionally mandated withdrawal from Iraq.

In response to criticism from MoveOn.org and other critics who want more direct and immediate withdrawal measures, Tanner, a leader of the Democrats’ congressional Blue Dog faction, said, “When these soldiers, sailors, and airmen are buried, they’re not buried as Republicans or Democrats. I care a hell of a lot more about them than I do about partisan politics.”

There’s more.