Speakers for the GOP convention have been announced. Interesting. Pawlenty, Crist, are announced for Thurs nite. VP nominee speaks Wed nite. Romney speaks before the VP slot. Who does that leave?

Something you probably won't hear about on the Today Show or GMA...It's looking like we're heading for a possible unilateral naval blockade of Iran, intended to limit imports of benzene, necessary for oil refineries. Iran has limited benzene production capacity.

Other than a column in the Kennebec Journal, most reports of this are coming from overseas. This article reports resolutions in the U.S. House and Senate authorizing such a naval blockade.

Some blogs I occasionally read, including The Oil Drum and Automatic Earth, deal with some of these issues.

Warning: reading these sites may cause depression, fatigue, and general malaise.

Please remember to consume in small doses, can become boring and pedantic at dinner parties.

Counting the 16 Chinese police killed and this American attacked and killed today (his wife and tour guide seriously injured), one has to ask about these Olympics: "What were they thinking?"

Godspeed travelers of all nations safely home.

As a veteran (Desert Storm) myself, I get cranky when Democrats tuck tail on issues related to the military. As Brandon Friedman states eloquently on the Vote Vets blog, there is no reason to cede authority on military matters just because of John McCain's service during Vietnam. Republicans sure didn't respect John Kerry's service during Vietnam. Wes Clark came home from Vietnam wounded, too. Let's respect his view, not only as a wounded vet, but also as a senior commander who handled the Balkans and Kosovo.

more from votevets: votevets.org blog, vetvoice.: (sorry, can't make links into the specific blog post work.)

Brandon Friedman:
We've heard from the pundits, the "strategists," and the politicians all day long on Wesley Clark's recent comments.
That said, I've been terribly disappointed by the Democratic "strategists" who've fallen all over themselves in order to talk about how sacred military service is--specifically John McCain's--and how awful General Wesley Clark's comments were, even though not one "strategist" that I've listened to today has ever served a minute in uniform. These ignorant, knee-jerking consultants on TV have been in an apparent race to concede ultimate authority on military matters to John McCain and the Republican Party since Sunday night. It's disgusting. And these concessions have been so over-the-top destructive to our long-term plans for running the country, that I'm not even sure where to begin.

The bottom line is this: If Democrats tuck tail and run from Republicans in this instance, we run the risk of ceding authority on military issues to John McCain for the rest of the campaign. Whether you like Clark or not, everyone has an interest in defending him vigorously in this case. We cannot allow the Right and the media to get away with trashing the first guy to come out in prime time to slam McCain's military "expertise." If our organizations don't defend Clark as being right in this case, we give in to the idea that Republicans are the parents in terms of national defense, and Democrats are the children--something those on the Right will be more than happy to reinforce.

This idea that we can't question someone's expertise on military matters simply because they served could very easily become the next "whoever is against the war is unpatriotic" mantra. And that's not something I'm prepared to accept.

more after the flip.

This week in MetroPulse, Frank Cagle opines on Knoxville sloganeering, suggesting a rocking chair and "Welcome Home" will do.

Ummm, no.

Ktowndownlow has joined the fray, sponsoring a contest encouraging local hipsters to subtitle our fair city with a hip, insiders-only moniker. (hat tip to Knoxville Talks.)

I took a moment to reflect.

Who can forget such previous slogans as

• "Knoxville. It's all around us." (Just not in Knoxville)
• "Knoxville. Where Nature and Technology Meet." (images of a deer being splattered on the inside of a superconducting supercollider at the Spallation Neutron Source come to mind with that brilliant juxtaposition.)
• "Knoxville. Naturally." (Knoxville is now a name brand laxative?)

Going back another century, Parson Brownlow, pro-Union publisher of the Knoxville Whig, had two slogans for the masthead of his paper: "Cry Aloud and Spare Not," and "Independent in All Things, Neutral in Nothing." These two are just as apt today in Knoxville and Knox County's heated political climate.

Such thoughts reminded me of a conversation I had a few years ago with someone from the State Economic Development Office.

"Memphis is Eeyore," this official described to me. "Woe is Memphis, the sky is falling."

"Nashville, however, is Tigger. Nothing but blue sky in Nashville."

"What about Knoxville?" I asked.

"Knoxville is Pooh," the person continued. "This is my honey pot. You get your own damn honey pot."

"Perfect. Captures the essence, doesn't it?"

"Yep."

Knoxville. Get Your Own Damn Honey Pot.

or

Knoxville. Full of Poohs.

When your GOP friends start singing about more drilling...

Please refer them to HR 6251, "The Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act of 2008."

We, the taxpayer, are subsidizing the oil and gas industry with not only these leases, but also with tax breaks, and they are doing nothing but rewarding us with artificially high prices.

From the factsheet produced by its sponsors:

“Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act of 2008”
Representatives Rahall, Markey, Hinchey, Emanuel and Yarmuth

The Problem

Currently, oil and gas companies hold leases on nearly 68 million acres of federal land (both onshore and under OCS waters) that they are not developing.

Generally speaking, oil and gas leases are issued for a 10-year term that can be renewed.

more after the flip...

Deep in the heart of Appalachia. This is cool.

link

Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama is scheduled to make a Twin City appearance on Thursday.
Obama is expected to speak at Virginia High School, Superintedent Doug Arnold said Tuesday.
“I’m hearing that the Obama camp called Virginia High this morning to inquire about renting the facility for a town hall-style meeting,” Arnold said.
The event will be held in the school gymnasium and is expected to begin about noon, VHS Principal Ina Danko said.
“This will be a ticketed event and if you don’t have a ticket, you can’t get in,”: Danko said.
Tickets will be distributed Tuesday from 7-9 p.m. at Virginia High School, 1200 Long Crescent and the Boucher for Congress campaign office, 137 S. Court St., in Abingdon.
Tickets will be available at those locations plus the United Mine Workers office in Castlewood, Va., on Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

An Appalachian blogger properly chastens urban progressives over at Daily Kos. An excellent read and perspective on progress in our own southern mountains.

Make sure to scan some of the more than 604 comments.

Our own Congressman Jimmy Duncan thinks that the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, the U.S. Institute of Medicine, the American Psychological Association, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists are a bunch of "elitists" for pointing out that abstinence-only education has increased teen pregnancies and STDs.

From Yahoo News: Lawmakers cited government statistics showing that one in four U.S. teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease and 30 percent of U.S. girls become pregnant before the age of 20.

Republicans said even if some abstinence-only programs do not work, others do, and it would be wrong to end the funding.

Rep. John Duncan, a Tennessee Republican, said that it seems "rather elitist" that people with academic degrees in health think they know better than parents what type of sex education is appropriate. "I don't think it's something we should abandon," he said of abstinence-only funding.

Seems that Duncan is more interested in funding right-wing fundamentalist elitists than actually solving the problems of teen pregnancies and STDs. Methinks Mr. Duncan is not only out of touch, he's also going to get some letters.

And Keith Olbermann thought so highly of Jimmy Duncan's brilliant perspective, he slammed Duncan while declaring abstinence only education number two in the pantheon of 50 Bush Administration scandals:

A Tennessee Republican congressman named John Duncan says it is, quote, “elitist” that people with academic degrees in health, think they know better than parents. Of course, you wouldn‘t want anybody with an education getting involved in sex education.

more of Olbermann's excerpt after the flip):

Had lunch with a friend who feels pretty strongly that a good location for a new, consolidated downtown hospital would be the site of the current safety building and coliseum. Both buildings being decrepit (and city owned), doing this would:

1. reduce the problem of the current landlocked state of Baptist
2. keep the hospital closer to south Knoxville than "somewhere else"
3. utilize Hall of Fame Drive to remain connected to north Knoxville
4. use TIFs to get a new coliseum out of the deal

other pros, cons?

1. also closer to Interstate than both current hospitals

Another day, another great speech. Taking it to McCain.

This is why the judgment that matters most on Iraq – and on any decision to deploy military force – is the judgment made first. If you believe we are fighting the right war, then the problems we face are purely tactical in nature. That is what Senator McCain wants to discuss – tactics. What he and the Administration have failed to present is an overarching strategy: how the war in Iraq enhances our long-term security, or will in the future. That's why this Administration cannot answer the simple question posed by Senator John Warner in hearings last year: Are we safer because of this war? And that is why Senator McCain can argue – as he did last year – that we couldn't leave Iraq because violence was up, and then argue this year that we can't leave Iraq because violence is down.

When you have no overarching strategy, there is no clear definition of success. Success comes to be defined as the ability to maintain a flawed policy indefinitely. Here is the truth: fighting a war without end will not force the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own future. And fighting in a war without end will not make the American people safer.

So when I am Commander-in-Chief, I will set a new goal on Day One: I will end this war. Not because politics compels it. Not because our troops cannot bear the burden– as heavy as it is. But because it is the right thing to do for our national security, and it will ultimately make us safer.
In order to end this war responsibly, I will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. We can responsibly remove 1 to 2 combat brigades each month. If we start with the number of brigades we have in Iraq today, we can remove all of them 16 months. After this redeployment, we will leave enough troops in Iraq to guard our embassy and diplomats, and a counter-terrorism force to strike al Qaeda if it forms a base that the Iraqis cannot destroy. What I propose is not – and never has been – a precipitous drawdown. It is instead a detailed and prudent plan that will end a war nearly seven years after it started.

The World Beyond Iraq: Senator Barack Obama
March 19, 2008. As prepared for delivery

complete speech transcript after the flip.

The Answer: 28:1

What is the question?

a. The odds of the UT Men's basketball team winning the national championship.

b. the likelihood of east Tennessee lake levels returning to normal this year.

c. Bear Stearns debt to income ratio.

the answer after the flip.

After counting primary delegates and caucus delegates in Texas, Obama wins Texas 99 delegates to Hillary's 94 delegates, according to CNN. (counting superdelegates, Obama wins 109-104.)

Does this mean, in Hillary's eyes, that Texas is:

1. no longer a big state;
2. a state that doesn't matter?

Headlines could also read "Hillary Loses Texas After Caucus Votes Are Counted." But I bet you won't see many like that.

Looks like "the Baptist," as our south Knox kin affectionately call it, is on life support.

"Newly formed Mercy Health Partners will close inpatient services at its Downtown Knoxville Baptist Hospital location within 12 months, a source familiar with the situation has confirmed to 10News."

Now this part is interesting: "Members of Mercy administration tell Ten News the board has committed to a long-range plan of placing a new hospital in the downtown Knoxville area. The memo also affirms that intent."

Betcha a dollar to a donut they're looking at the Atlantic Mills/Palm Beach property off of Baxter Avenue.

Just a hunch.

McCain gets angry today. Even the reporter asks, "why are you so angry?"

temper, temper.

Do you really want this man answering the red phone at 3 in the morning?

We can beat him like a drum in November.

here's a scenario under a McCain presidency:

McCain: "Prime Minister Harper said WHAT? Scramble the B-2s. We're bombing Canada."

Adviser: "Sir, he said 'The grain crop is a failure'...Not McCain, that fop, is a failure."

McCain: "oh. well, then...eh, bomb 'em anyway."

Turns out R. Neal, in his Knox Views post "Obama has a Tell," was played, as many others in the media and the blogosphere were, by a false leak from the Canadian government that was apparently intended to create friction within the Democratic Party.

Watch the whole news story from Canadian Public Broadcasting.

"The Canadian Embassy here is mortified. The Obama campaign is enraged, and Ottawa is now trying to repair the damage," said CBC reporter Neal McDonald.

Dem strategist Bob Shrum said on Meet the Press: "You've got a right-wing government in Canada that is trying to help the Republicans. They are actively interfering in this campaign."

video link via DKos, which offers additional details and post-mortem.

Let's not help the wingers anymore, eh?

thanks.

talk about a kitchen sink mentality: (via CBS)

Hillary prefers McCain to Obama.

"Hillary Clinton told reporters that both she and the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain offer the experience to be ready to tackle any crisis facing the country under their watch, but Barack Obama simply offers more rhetoric.

“I think you'll be able to imagine many things Senator McCain will be able to say,” she said. “He’s never been the president, but he will put forth his lifetime of experience. I will put forth my lifetime of experience. Senator Obama will put forth a speech he made in 2002.”

Clinton was referring to Obama’s anti-war speech he delivered in Chicago before entering the United States Senate."

Sheez.

We took the 9 year old to Blue Man Group last night. He wanted to take his Nintendo DS because he was afraid he would be bored. We said no.

Excellent concert. BMG has been around since the 1980s, but our narrow view assumed it was just a percussion extravaganza. With an amazing back up band and two lead vocalists, their "How To Be A Megastar Tour 2.1" is a combination of strong acoustics, vocals, and funny satire on pop culture, plus the amazing signature sounds of three mute blue men. One of the funniest bits was when they lock the lead guitarist in a glass box and use smoke to slow him down from his self-indulgent, over-the-top guitar riffs. He comes out the other side a better man, and a better guitarist.

more after the flip.

Obama was right to dismiss the silliness of Hillary's "plagiarism" charge. Imagine Hillary borrowing lines from her husband's 1992 campaign and from John Edwards.

Oh wait, she did.

Hillary needs to grow up and find some better issues.

minor update: and another thing. Whenever these candidates go into attack mode like this, don't you think they ought to be darn sure they've never committed the __fill in the blank__ atrocity they are accusing the other one of?

How do you think Jane Cowen-Fletcher feels about Hillary publishing a book by the same title only two years after Cowen-Fletcher (Scholastic, 1994) vs. Hillary (Simon & Schuster, 1996).

Let's say you had two local governments, side by side. One was well-organized, generally efficient, with characteristics that led to lower taxes, better services, and equitable processes for the redress of grievances.

The other government had public officials ignoring term limits to remain in office, offering up self-serving tax subsidies to big box corporations in the form of unneeded tax increment financing (TIFs) that ended up taking money out of the school system by artificially reducing the true tax base of the government to the state. Government officials here wasted money on lavish dinners on government credit cards, threatened residents with property tax increases if they didn't vote for a wheel tax on their registered vehicles, and provided grant dollars to nonprofit organizations run by their own families.

Could the viability of each of these governments culturally find themselves subject to Darwin's process of natural selection, where one is more likely to culturally adapt, survive, and prosper than the other?

A new Stanford University study shows that human culture may be subject to natural selection.

The Billionaire's Retort:

From the Wall Street Journal here. No you can't...heal this nation...No you can't...end this war!

In a redux of Sen. Bob Dole's senate resignation in 1996 during the presidential campaign (how'd that work out, Bob?) rumors are floating that McCain may resign his Senate seat. Governor Janet Napolitano (D) would appoint his successor.

McCain has missed some crucial votes in the Senate, including a major vote last May on the Iraq war, the only presidential candidate to miss that vote. In fact, he has missed 55.7% of Senate votes, according to the Washington Post. In the same report, Obama has missed 38.8%, and Clinton 27.1%.

Here are the votes McCain has missed.

What's this guy even doing taking a Senate paycheck, anyway, missing more than HALF the votes in the Senate? Perhaps vigor is an important trait in a candidate, after all. At 72, McCain would be the oldest first-term president ever elected.

As a Tennessean, I am disturbed by the stunt being played out right now by the Georgia legislature, attempting to move the Tennessee state line a mile in order to “share” water from the Tennessee river.

With apologies to the late Sam Kinnison, I submit the following:

"I'm like anyone else on this planet -- I'm very moved by the Georgia drought situation. I see the same commercials, with those little kids, THIRSTING TO DEATH, listening to John Mayer on their iPods at the Buckhead Mall, and very depressed. I watch those kids and I go, ‘Dang, I know the FILM crew could give this kid a Dasani!' There's a director five feet away going, 'DON'T GIVE IT TO HIM YET! GET THAT DASANI OUTTA HERE! IT DOESN'T WORK UNLESS HE LOOKS THIRSTY!!!'

To continue some of the sentiments expressed here about the new water tower on the tall ridge in south Knoxville, I humbly submit the following for your holiday enjoyment:

Hall of Fame

Ball of Flame

Ball of Shame

and last, but not least:

Hall of Blame

WNBC posted a list of players from the due out Mitchell Report, Raw Story copied the list from WNBC, then WNBC pulled the list down. If true, it looks really bad for major league baseball.

Clemens, Sosa, Canseco, McGwire, Dykstra, Giambi. wow.

shocked. shocked, i tell you. more here.

quote of the day: "It's going to be a rough day in the Bronx," the paper quoted the source as saying.

Who would you trust more to be president?

This guy: "This brings me to my second point. Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all...

NY Times just shredded Giuliani on the front page.

All of these statements are incomplete, exaggerated or just plain wrong. And while, to be sure, all candidates use misleading statistics from time to time, Mr. Giuliani has made statistics a central part of his candidacy as he campaigns on his record.

Super bonus, Alan Keyes group just called him slippery and crooked, then compared him to...wait for it...Bill Clinton.

Oh, and (the indicted) Bernie Kerik is rushing to his defense over his misappropriation of funds to fund his "travels" to the Hamptons.

Imagine the technology if the series "24" had premiered in 1994.

For all you online geeks who remember 300 baud modems, this is funny. Click the video to start.

from College Humor.

Sometimes, we're just overwhelmed with issues and information. You feel like, "yeah, I should care about that, but..."

But occasionally, an issue becomes so clearly crystallized that it can no longer be ignored.

My epiphany on strip mining came this morning courtesy of Daily Kos.

30 1 Days to Save the Mountains: That's All, Folks

If you were to turn to the news this morning and see this story:

Dam breaks in the Hollywood Hills. Wall of mud sweeps away homes and businesses. Many well known stars missing, presumed dead. Thousands homeless.

How much attention do you think it would receive? Or what if the lede on the Times was "Kiloton explosion rocks Central Park. Homes shaken, windows broken miles away. Air filled with dust as giant blast knocks buildings from their foundations and sends rock flying."

What laws might we pass in response? What would people do to stop these things from happening again?

The answer must be nothing. Because these things are happening. They're just not happening to rich, glamorous people in the middle of powerful cities.

They're happening in towns like Saunders, where a coal-slurry dam burst, releasing more than 130 million gallons of black, toxic sludge. The town was swept away in an instant, leaving 125 dead, over 1,000 injured, and 4,000 homeless. Did we outlaw the practices that had destroyed Saunders? Of course not.

Those explosions are happening every day -- and night -- right next to people like kossack wisecountyva. Is any news crew there to cover the damage?

Do something. There's much, much more.

Monks, Nudes, and Rollerskates: Life Begins at 40. Purchase it online at monksbook.com. (Hardcover. ISBN: 978-0-980055306 Rocket Squirrel Press)

“When some men hit the middle age crazies, they quit their jobs, buy red convertibles, divorce, and marry trophy wives half their years. James Cortese took a different route, economically and matrimonially, by following his dreams in real-life flights of fancy. What’s more, he did it during the Ozzie and Harriet 1950s–when “respectable working men” (if, ahem, newspaper columnists are included in such lofty circles) were supposed to be above this kind of nonsense.

Cortese’s fun-to-read book chronicles his adventures all over the map: everything from swimming across the Mississippi River, to playing Beethoven in the Grand Canyon, to roller-skating through Texas and much more, all culminating with his appearance on the CBS quiz show, To Tell The Truth.

Walter Mitty, eat your heart out.”

–Sam Venable, Columnist,Knoxville News Sentinel

more after the jump...