Did you see how much Mr. Bush is appreciated in Africa? I guess we should be ashamed of ourselves. According to the Washington Post they have named a road after him in Ghana and declared a George Bush Day in Benin.

Leno even did a live remote interview with him from Liberia on the Tonight Show. He said that he was particularly thrilled to be visiting there since "Laura used to be a Liberian."*

Of course they have good reasons to love him. He has pledged a bunch of money for their low-income health care, he has yet to send their young adults off on a crusade to maintain the cost of oil, and he will leave their shores in less than a week.

*Steve Bridges makes a great GWB.

The Clinton 12 documentary is on right now on East Tennessee Public Television. It started a few minutes ago, and will re-air Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

This just in: Brian Hornback will not, repeat NOT vote for a Democrat against incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander.

(If they want the Hornback vote, Tennessee Dem's should consider running a Democrat who mentions Brian's Blog.)

WATE has a followup on the sad death of a pet while at a local groomer. Apparently it's not the first time this has happened at this particular groomer. The report suggests there may have been a problem with a "drying cage."

I had never heard of drying cages, so I googled it up and found this:

TVA adds 5% fee on top of rate hike

The combined impact of the two rate hikes could add as much as $12 to the average customer bill from distributors...

This latest increase is called a fuel cost adjustment, and it changes quarterly based on the costs of fuel.

The article says the rate hikes will help fund $2.5 billion for the Watts Bar nuclear plant expansion.

In related news, TVA is purchasing another gas-fired power plant at fire sale prices.

Tennessee's Parker to Skip Senior Year

By skipping her final year of eligibility, Parker has the chance to enter the WNBA draft in April. She would likely go as the top pick.

UPDATE: Yesterday's news.

I think most people would agree that the appointments meeting yesterday was very well done and that Commissioner Strickland did a great job chairing the meeting. It was relatively short, sweet, and to the point, yet everyone who wanted to speak was able to, and there was opportunity for discussion of the issues, etc.

Why can't it always be this way? The rules for this meeting were:

1. No lobbying - No one could approach the commisioners once the meeting started.

2. No cell phones - Commissioners could not take phone calls on their cell phones during the meetings.

3. No recesses - There was no going into the back room to discuss a vote.

4. No votes while absent - Bathroom breaks were one-at-a-time, and while a commissioner was absent, there was no voting.

5. No private discussions - Commissioners were not allowed to talk to each other privately during the meeting.

I liked it and I think the general public felt that the meeting was very above-board and open, the way it should be. I think it also made the meeting go much quicker than it would have otherwise.

I think Commission should seriously consider adopting these rules for all future meetings. Not necessarily workshops, committee meeting or agenda meetings, but at the regular monthly meetings, these rules sure would make things go faster and remove the perception that things are going on outside of the public's view.

Senator Obama wins the Democrats Abroad Primary:

Barack Obama 65.6%
Hillary Clinton 32.7%

Some recent additions to the blogroll and the blog-o-rama feed:

• Liberal writer/blogger Carole Borges

• WNOX news man Michael Grider

• The Halls Shopper Tabloid Boy (aka Larry Van Guilder)

Check 'em out.

The Daily Beacon

The $99,600 grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Make Voting Work initiative is funding the project, which aims to make the physical act of voting easier for the public. The collaboration is one of 16 projects nationwide to participate in improving voting during future elections. The researchers will look into what it takes to establish voting centers.

[..]

Research includes “what it would cost, how many vote centers need to be set up, where the centers would go, what times they’d be open and more of the logistics,” said Knox County Administrator of Elections Greg Mackay.

The article has more details on the project that involves Knox, Anderson, and Loudon counties. Greg Mackay says they hope to begin testing it after next year.

Austin (Tex-Mex) Texas, 8 PM EST, CNN.

43,000 apply for 200 tickets available to the public. There will be 2,000 in the audience and millions watching from afar.

A sampling of questions the sports-minded propose for the debate.

RE: IMMIGRATION
Should Texas be allowed to build a border fence to keep out football recruiters from Oklahoma?