I have just received word from the Director of Online Communications for the Democratic National Convention Committee that KnoxViews/TennViews has been selected as the official credentialed Tennessee blog for the August 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Part of the deal is that yours truly will be seated alongside the Tennessee delegation on the convention floor ("one of the best seats in the house") to live-blog the greatest political event in recent history.

Developing...

UPDATE: DNC Chairman Governor Dean Announces Blogs Selected For 2008 Democratic National Convention 'State Blogger Corps'

"Similar to the record-breaking voter turnout our Party has seen during the primary season, the demand for these coveted blogger positions is yet another indicator of the tremendous interest in this historic Convention," said Governor Dean. "The Internet has played a critical role in connecting Americans to elected officials and candidates seeking office. The DemConvention State Blogger Corps will continue to foster this dialogue - in all 50 of our states and our territories too - as we head towards this year's historic election and elect a Democrat to the White House."

Follow the link for the full press release and list of blogs.

UPDATE: Square State, the official Colorado blog, interviews Howard Dean about the State Blogger Corps.

UPDATE: Associated Press

UPDATE: Howard Dean welcomes state bloggers:

The Nashville Business Journal reports that average Tennessee health insurance premiums increased 10% in 2008.

Among other interesting statistics, the article also says "On average, U.S. employers contribute 10.3 percent of payroll toward the cost of health benefits."

We use them all the time - our firefighters, police officers and emergency medical service personnel. Hardly a day goes by that we don't come into contact either directly or indirectly with these hard working public servants. When we have traffic accidents or emergencies at home or at work these public servants are the first on the scene in our communities. Often risking their own safety in order to serve the public good, these employees of our cities, states and municipalities deserve to have collective bargaining rights.

America faces a housing crisis that it has not seen the likes of since the great depression. Hundreds of thousands of families have lost their homes due to the mortgage crisis in the past year and more are at risk if we don't act now. That is why the US Senate must support some version of the Foreclosure Prevention Act, which passed this past week in the US House. This legislation, which is on its way to the Senate next week has been threatened with veto by President Bush.

Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee (PPMET) recognizes University School of Nashville counselor and teacher Anita Schmid and the Education Department of Nashville CARES as the 2008 Family Life Educators of the year in recognition of outstanding family life and human sexuality education.

The awards will be presented at PPMET's "Gala in the Garden" at Cheekwood Botanical Garden in Nashville tonight. The featured speaker will be Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Ms. Richards is the former deputy chief of staff for Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and daughter of former Texas Governor Ann Richards.

More details in the press releases after the jump...

Rep. Campfield is criticizing Gov. Bredesen's decision to withdraw support for a bill that requires automatic license revocation for DUI. Campfield employs some interesting math to make his argument, and apparently doesn't read the bills he sponsors.

• Monterey Mushrooms - one of East Tennessee's hidden gems, and a great place for the gardener.

East Tennessee is full of discoveries waiting to be discovered, and wife Sally and I found one on Tuesday -- the Monterey Mushrooms Company in Loudon County.

And why go to the Monterey Mushrooms Company? Not for the mushrooms. You can buy those at the local grocery story.

If not mushrooms, then what? Compost.

Nashville, TN: The Green Party of Tennessee has nominated Chris Lugo as their candidate for US Senate in Tennessee this year at their state nominating convention in Nashville held Saturday. Lugo said that he was excited to be representing the most progressive political party in the state of Tennessee, "The Green Party is the most progressive party in the state, and I am glad to be representing them as a candidate for federal office. My views about the environment, the war, health care and education are highly compatible with the ten key values of the Green Party. I hope to represent them well as a candidate and to promote the cause of peace through my campaign."

By a 94-2 vote, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed HB3687 to establish a convenience voting pilot program.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on it tomorrow. Knox, Anderson, and Loudon counties have been mentioned as candidates. Background on the pilot program can be found here.

Can anyone explain the need for a constitutional amendment?

According to the Legal Notice appearing on page A12 in Sunday, May 4, issue of the Knoxville News-Sentinel we will be voting on the following:

"The citizens of this state shall have the personal right to hunt and fish .... Traditional manners and means may be used to take non-threatened species."

An investigative report by Channel 5 in Nashville has revealed that the 74,000 acre Sundquist state wildlife area, which cost Tennessee taxpayers $40 million dollars to purchase, is now being mined by Knoxville-based National Coal.

All Tennessee taxpayers should watch this 5 minute investigative report (15 second commercial first) and then take action below to put an end to the destruction.

NC5 Investigates Strip Mining In Tennessee

According to the report, mountaintop removal is just now really getting cranked up in Tennessee. Now that 2,000 acres of Zeb Mountain have been pretty much reduced to just a big pile of rubble, the coal companies are moving on to assault other mountaintops in Tennessee. There are several pending mining permits just north of Knoxville, especially in Grainger County.

We can still stop it - if you will take just 5 minutes to contact the representatives below to keep the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Act alive!

May 1st marks the international worker's holiday known as May Day, which commemorates the fight for the eight-hour work day. The day was chosen in memory of the Haymarket incident in Chicago in 1886 to honor the struggles of striking workers and the very real threats to their health, safety and even lives that workers have undertake when choosing to exercise the right to organize and form unions.

A coalition of Tennessee organizations calls on David Fowler to stop misleading the public on the SJR127 anti-abortion bill, and tells the Tennessee House to just say NO. Details at TennViews.

There is a crisis happening on a global scale, and we here in the United States of America have a moral responsibility to take action to help alleviate global food prices and ensure that millions of people do not suffer the ill effects of hunger and possibly even starvation. We are all complaining about the high cost of oil these days and how it is impinging on our budget, but in the developing world this is having extreme consequences. The stark reality is that three billion people on the planet earth live on less than $2 a day, and a good portion of that money goes specifically to the purchase of basic food grains to survive. As a result of the skyrocketing price of oil, the price of food grains has risen due to commercial production costs and transportation to as much as $800 a ton for rice which has led to food riots in the developing world.

In a Knoxville News Sentinel op-ed yesterday, Sen. Bob Corker says the government should pay for people's health care.

According to Sen. Corker, he only recently learned from speaking to a gentleman in East Tennessee that a lot of people don't have health insurance and end up going to emergency rooms for treatment.

Sen. Corker's solution is to provide every American "cash in hand," $2,160 for individuals or $5,400 for families, to purchase health insurance either through their employer or in the private market. He says it will be revenue neutral, but he doesn't explain how.

He also says that the alternative is "government-sponsored health care," which would "lower the quality of care, limit access to physicians and put a government bureaucrat between a patient and his or her doctor."

A couple of things.

If "government-sponsored health care" is such a bad thing, why he is proposing exactly that?

Second, Sen. Corker seems out of touch with regard to the cost of premiums. The average annual total premium cost in 2007 was $4,479 for single coverage and $12,106 for family coverage (source).

Third, Sen. Corker is apparently unaware that insurance companies in Tennessee aren't required to write anyone an individual policy. So if you're not employed by, say, the Federal Government (like Sen. Corker), good luck. Not only that, but employers aren't required by federal law to offer insurance either. So a big check from the government isn't going to help you if you are unemployed, self-employed, underemployed, or your employer doesn't provide health insurance, especially in Tennessee.

Fourth, Sen. Corker, like many Republicans, believes we can fix anything in the tax code ("we make the tax code treat all Americans equally when it comes to buying health insurance"). Meanwhile, his colleague, senior Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander, just recently called for eliminating the tax code and going to a flat tax. So how can we solve all our problems through the tax code if we don't have a tax code? Maybe Sen. Corker's people ought to get with Sen. Alexander's people and schedule lunch?

Finally (I guess that was more than a couple of things), I am not clear on how "government-sponsored health care" (which is ironically what he proposes) would "limit access to physicians" or how it would put a "government bureaucrat between a patient and his or her doctor."

The last time I checked, just about every physician and hospital accepts Medicare. And unlike most private insurance, which requires pre-approval by minimum-wage cubical clerks in call centers (in India?), standard Medicare requires no pre-approval. And study after study shows Medicare is more cost effective and has lower administrative overhead than private insurance. In fact, some studies say we could reduce our overall health care costs (another one of Sen. Corker's goals) by $200 billion to $300 billion per year by opening up Medicare insurance to everyone. In other words, we are already paying for "universal coverage," we're just not getting it.

Sen. Corker should study up on plans such as HR676, which accomplishes everything he says he wants and a lot more for a lot less, before floating more half-baked, recycled GOP talking point "solutions." The problem from Sen. Corker's point of view, though, is that a comprehensive single-payer solution doesn't benefit the corporate insurance company middle men and gatekeepers, who are the real beneficiaries of his plan.

You could plant a garden, or you could buy futures in local farm produce according to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.

"Right now is the time for people who care about locally grown foods to buy their produce for the coming season," says Tennessee Department of Agriculture marketing specialist Jon Frady.

With Community Supported Agriculture, a farmer contracts with other people in the community to provide those individuals with a portion of the farmer’s harvest. CSA's not only help consumers save money, they also help farmers plan their crops and buy the necessary seed and fertilizer.

Depending on the arrangement, you might go out to the farm to get your produce, or meet the farmer at a community drop-off site.

Consumers typically purchase a share or a half share of a producer's harvest in advance. A full share averages about $25 per week depending on the type of produce, and will usually get you a half-bushel box of produce per week, or once every two weeks for a half share.

A spring-summer CSA share typically lasts about 25 weeks, from late May until early November. The type of produce will vary depending on the season.

Some customers can also request farm fresh eggs, milk, and other local foods to be included with their share. Some area farmers pool their products to provide customers with a complete range of local foods.

To locate a CSA near you, visit the CSA farms directory at the Tennessee Department of Agriculture's Market Development website.

The nearest one to the Knoxville area is Green Man Farm in Grainger Co.

The University of Tennessee Ewing Gallery will host 3 MFA thesis exhibitions from April 18-24, 2008. On view will be works by the following Master of Fine Arts candidates:

Barron Hall, Sculpture: Now
Preston Proffitt, Media Arts: Welcome to the Illusion
Sarah Shebaro, Printmaking: Samples, Loops, Remixes

Visit the Ewing page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...)

Support Your Local Galleries and Museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

My father is a Vietnam Veteran. He was an officer in ROTC in 1968 while he was in college and went to Vietnam as a Lieutenant the year I was born. My father felt an obligation to his country and a duty to serve when called. I was born in a snowstorm in rural Minnesota while my father was halfway around the world in the jungles of Vietnam. I am proud of my father and his service to my country. When I was a teenager, going to private Catholic school, I was approached by military recruiters. I was encouraged to join the military and to enlist in the ROTC program, much like my father had been. For whatever reason, I declined. I was not yet a peace activist like I became after the first gulf war, but something in my instincts told me that I could not serve in the military the way my father had served.

Your Voice Is Key to Improving Healthcare
The Tennessee Health Care Campaign (Link...) is holding a town hall meeting This Friday from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. It will be held at the Cherokee Health Systems corporate office - 2018 Western Ave. Knoxville

Confirmed Legislators:
Sen. Tim Burchett, Rep. Stacy Campfield, Rep Doug Overby, Rep Harry Tindell.

Sen. Jamie Woodson had confirmed but is now stating she has can't attend.

From thcc:
Your Help is Needed NOW.

Sen. Jamie Woodson had confirmed several days ago that she would attend our forum.

Now she says another event has come up and she can’t come to our forum.

We want to respectfully ask her to keep her commitment to us.

Sen. Woodson needs to hear from YOU, her constituent.
Call her office in Nashville TODAY.
Toll-free:
1-800-449-8366, ext. 11648
It's OK to leave a message. Please make sure to state that you are her constituent.

In a respectful way, please do the following:

CALL Sen. Woodson and tell her – in your own words -- that you would like her to:
A) PLEASE keep her commitment to attend our Constituent Health Care Forum at Cherokee Health Systems Corp. Office in Knoxville on Friday, April 18th at 6:30 pm.

B) Help you and others avoid state policies that will create up to 200,000 new uninsured this year;

C) Help you and others increase the number of children who have health coverage;

Tell her that you and others have been looking forward to sharing your concerns and discussing solutions that she, as your elected representative, can help with.

Let her know that YOU and others are RELYING on her to care and help avoid another mass creation of uninsured. Together, we can avoid crisis.

Sen. Woodson needs to hear from you.
Call her office in Nashville TODAY: 1-800-449-8366, ext. 11648
It's OK to leave a message.

Visit Thcc2.org for more info.
I hope to see some of you there. I will be the nerdy guy with the unruly 5 year old.

The Rutherford County Regional Planning Commission voted against issuing a permit and rezoning plan for Bible Park USA.

The ACLU has been watching the project proposal amid concerns about public government funding for a private religious enterprise.

Shares of First Horizon Corp., parent company of First Tennessee, hit a 52-week low yesterday, and entered the $11 range for the first time since 1996.

From the Financial Times:

According to Thomson Financial, first-quarter earnings in the financial sector are expected to fall 64 per cent in the first quarter, marking the third consecutive quarter of negative earnings growth.

The subprime mortgage meltdown continues to ripple through the economy.

There is a scar on the constitution that is deep and growing. That scar is bleeding money and the bigger the wound gets the more the money flows out. Our society is fundamentally rooted in the concept of representational government, but the simple reality of current election financing ensures that those being represented are the wealthy and powerful, excluding the vast majority of Americans from a seat at the table. What is needed to stitch the wounds of the constitution is a medical kit complete with the surgical tools that will remove the abscess of 'government to the highest bidder'. The Fair Elections Now Act, which is currently under consideration in the Senate, will help to restore a sense of balance and propriety to an election process that has been sold out to the private interests of a privileged minority of the electorate.

Fundraising, endorsements, and more.

Democrats in the Tennessee Senate will introduce a family medical leave bill tomorrow. Read more about it here.

An exhibition featuring artworks by Alexandre Renoir and his ancestor, renowned French Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, will open at the Tennessee State Museum on April 15. The exhibit, entitled Strokes of Genius: The Works of Pierre-Auguste & Alexandre Renoir — Art from Private Collections will include not only Alexandre Renoir’s work, and that of his great-grandfather, but seldom seen artwork from the private collections of Pierre-Auguste Renoir and friends. This includes Impressionist work from the great artists of that period — Mary Cassatt, Paul Cezanne, Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, and Jean-Fran Raffaelli. See the Tennessee State Museum page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...

Alexandre will return to Nashville on June 6, where he will be on hand for the final weekend of the Strokes of Genius exhibition, and a walking tour for museum visitors, as well as a workshop for children.

Selected works of the exhibit and works of Alexandre Renoir will be offered for purchase in a private offering on the evening of June 7 and afternoon of June 8.

Support your local galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

The intermittently weekly Tennessee progressive blog roundup is here.

“Cutting Fine, Cutting Deep” (closing April 13), introduces viewers to parallel, complementary worlds of environmentally focused cut-paper art. Visit the University Art Gallery Sewanee page on Art Museum Touring.com. This link takes you directly to their page (Link...).

Cut paper work, Ernst Oppliger

Organized and curated by Sewanee art professor Julie Püttgen, this exhibition showcases five artists from the Swiss Scherenschnitt (“scissor cutting”) tradition together with six contemporary artists working in North America. Drawing from traditional papercutting techniques, these artists create silhouettes, dioramas, stencils, paper lacework, pop-up drawings, and complex symmetrical designs. The resulting narratives present striking contrasts and similarities – from Ernst Oppliger’s profound environmental love affair with Swiss pastoral life, to Humberto Duque’s absurdist figures in dismembered landscapes; from Lane Twitchell’s dense Apocalyptic cities, to Ueli Hofer’s mythical Edens.

Support your area galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

Knoxville News Sentinel:

In Tennessee between 2000-2006, the report said, more than 3,600 people 25-64 years of age died as the result of a lack of health insurance. Uninsured people are 25 percent more likely to die prematurely than adults with private insurance.

This is a disgrace.

It has been almost forty years since the United States signed on to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty and now is the time to begin to live up to the spirit of that treaty. The NPT has been signed by 189 nations and was intended as a framework to move the world toward both the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the eventual dismantlement of weapons of mass destruction. In our time, these instruments of genocide and apocalypse have hung over our heads like an angel of death, haunting the vast majority of our foreign policy decisions and at times pushing the planet to the edge of nuclear war.