The docent was showing some Daisys (kindergarteners)around the Girl Scout Museum of Tanasi Council here in Knoxville (neat place). When it came to the miniature doll house, the docent told the girls that the house was just like a house of 1912, the year that Girl Scouting started. She asked the girls is there anything different from the houses today. The girls said immediately "Where is the bathroom?".

There are more pictures in the Girl Scout Museum page and Fay's Page in the blog section of Art Museum Touring.com (Link...) The museum is one of the premier Girl Scout Museums in the country with a fantastic collection of uniforms and memorabilia.

The girls and women were not allowed to vote at that time. I hope all the women who read this blog will exercise their hard won right to vote!

Sherrie

It never ceases to amaze me that after all the yelling over getting to vote the good government groups want more appointments and less representation. I wonder if some of this is throwing the baby out with the bath water. I think some action on nepotism and conflict of interest should be taken, but not sure how strict. I dislike the developer back scratching as much as the family back scratching. I dislike a government run by Scoobie's folks as much as I would by these good government elitists. Balanced thought gets lost in all this.

China to Germany by rail.

Link...

I once shared a couchette on a train from Budapest to Venice with a woman who was making her way to Barcelona to catch a steamship to New York. No. It wasn't 1936. It was 2003. She had started in New York 8 weeks earlier and took Amtrak to Emeryville, CA, then took a local train to San Francisco. She got a passenger berth on a container ship to Vladivostok in Eastern Russia (you can do that and, incongruously, it ain't cheap). She boarded a west bound train headed to Moscow via the Trans-Siberian Express. I have no idea how long that takes. She had taken the cure for a couple of days at a spa in Budapest after pulling in from Moscow. She was in her late 70s and I have to say that was the damn coolest trip. No planes. Just lots of time to read and look out the window.

The Sunday "Palmetto pummeling with rejoicing in the streets and mournful rending of garments" edition of the TennViews weekly liberal blog roundup showcasing the best and brightest bloggers in Tennessee and what they are talking about...

A couple of things strike me as we have just gotten past the South Carolina primary and are heading toward Florida and Super Tuesday:

• All of the Republican candidates have hardline antis. That is, there are folks who say, "I'll never vote for . . ." And these are Republicans, not Democrats. Mitt Romney, for instance, will never the get votes of some evangelicals; John McCain will never get the votes of some "social conservatives"; and Rudy and the Huck will never get the votes of some who want non-weird candidates. Democrats, on the other hand, don't seem to be in that mode. Despite their current fussing, each candidate seems to be acceptable to most Democrats.
• Every time Republicans get into a rhythm about targeting Hillary, guess who pops up: Obama. That must be very frustrating. Why can't the Democrats pick a front-runner and stick with him/her? That would make things so much nicer for the Republicans.
• Republicans, we are told, are "salivating" at the prospect of having Hillary as the nominee. Maybe, but just why is unclear to me. When is the last time the Republicans have beaten a Clinton -- Bill or Hillary?
• In South Carolina yesterday, more than 500,000 people voted in the Democratic primary. Last Saturday, the number of votes in the Republican primary was about 325,000. In New Hampshire, there were about 290,000 voters in the in the Democratic primary and a little more than 230,000 in the Republican primary. In the Iowa caucuses, reports were that there were far more people attending Democratic caucuses than Republican caucuses. There are many reasons for these differences, and they don't correlate directly to what will happen in November, but they have to be worrying to Republicans.

Finally, some SSP (shameless self-promotion): First Inning Artworks has a new gussied up new site

Link...

Are they risking a loss because someone might disagree with one of the initiatives, the two most contraversial being the employment vs. disenfranchisement issue and allowing the mayor to appoint the fee offices and law director?

On the latter issue, to me at first glance, we're trading five fiefdoms for one BIG fiefdom, unless we implement some strict personnel policies with pay, raises, overtime, perks, etc. No more "perogative of the officeholder"

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Steve Drevik
Candidate, County Commission
Fourth District, 4-B

I see Ragsdale kept up his M.O. with latest MPC appointment. Under the radar appointment while everyone looking the other way, of yet another commissioner with a heavy conflict of interest. Heavy equipment sales owner. Wonder how those votes will go.

Link...

Apparently it's hard work to provide safe medical products.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced a nationwide recall of all lots of heparin and saline pre-filled flush syringes manufactured by AM2 PAT, Inc., of Angier, N.C. Two lots have been found to be contaminated with Serratia marcescens, a bacterium that can cause serious injury or death.

Patients are suing...

In December, doctors traced numerous infections to heparin-filled syringes used during home treatment for cancer and other ailments.

Be careful out there!

UT Issues Committee:

Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author, will discuss his most recent book, Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib , in which he lays out the chain of events from the September 11th attacks to the war in Iraq.

Hersh’s work became famous in 1969 when he exposed the My Lai massacre and its subsequent cover-up. As both a free-lance journalist and a writer for The New York Times and the Associated Press, Hersh has written controversial and groundbreaking reports on the C.IA’s bombing of Cambodia, Henry Kissinger’s wiretapping of his staff, the C.I.A’s operations against Chilean President Salvador Allende, and prison abuse in Abu Ghraib. Hersh currently contributes regularly to The New Yorker . In addition to his journalistic contributions, Hersh has published eight books.

Event Details

Date: Feb. 6, 2008 19:30
Location: UC Auditorium
Cost: Free

Contact: issues@utk.edu

After the SC results, John Edwards will probably not win the nomination, but his clear voice on what we are fighting for will remain.

Prior to the SC results, there was a great negativity to Barack Obama campaign in the local blogs. I would politely ask that you re-look at situation at hand:

We have a candidate that has the ability to erase many of the bitter partisan lines that have separated us from our neighbors and family over the past 18 yrs.

We have a candidate that can bring large amounts of independent voters and Bush voters over to vote for a Democrat. This would be a devastating blow to Rove's permanent majority plans. It gives us the ability to start talking about a new American majority.

We have a candidate that will immediately diffuse some of the hatred aimed at our country caused by our current administration and it's deadly ineptness.

We have a candidate that does not spin every single word that comes out of his mouth.

We have a candidate that can win in November because of his broad appeal and because is not starting with 50% of the population against him from the start.

We have a candidate that is inspiring a whole generation of young people and will save them from witnessing the ugly battles of the baby-boomers which we've been watching since 1992.

As much as we admire the Clinton's intelligence and political skills, they cannot do any of the items above. In fact, I think that if Hillary wins the nomination and faces McCain, the Democrats will have blown another great chance to lead the country into a new direction.

To throw this all away because of a subjective analysis of a lack of experience, will be an historic mistake. Obama has more legislative experience that Hillary Clinton and more public service experience than Abraham Lincoln when he ran for president.

Thank you . . .

Kevin B