The Market Speaks

I forget which blog supplied this link to radio ratings for Memphis, but it's pretty interesting.

The most listened to talk station in Memphis? WDIA, by almost two to one! They are the number three station in the market with a 6.6 rating. The next talk station is WREC, at #9 and a 3.9.

Oh, and the much ballyhooed Air America? They are waaaay down the list, at #26. Their rating is .5, which is one-third what it was a year ago! Losing two-thirds of your audience isn't a good idea guys.

Where are all those vaunted Memphis liberals? Don't they support their own?

By the way, is there a similar public resource for Nielsen television news ratings? I'm curious.

Bush Spied, Terrorists Died

Via Stromata Blog comes Bumper Stickers of the Future:

Bush spied, terrorists died.
Democrats – a 40 year war on poverty and still no exit strategy.
I stubbed my toe. Impeach Bush!
Keep your socialism out of my paycheck!
It takes a conservative to feed a liberal.

I like that last one, too.

Everything New is Old

Many folks on the right and more than a few on the left believe the Democratic Party is headed to disaster, being dragged to doom by the MoveOn / Dean-Gore / Bushysteria / anti-war crowd. It wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened for them.

It just goes to show how recurrent human events can be. Note that back then, the Democrats stayed out of power for more than 25 years, briefly seized power only to see the county fall into a bad recession, then were back out of power for another couple of decades.

Something to think about.

The Muhammad Emoticon

Stolen from SayUncle

(((:~{>

That's right. I did it. Come and get me.

Has any local media outlet run the Danish cartoons or any of the response cartoons yet?

SUNDAY EVENING UPDATE: I was going to put part of the following in comments, along with something I had already written, but decided instead to move it up into the main post. Here it is:

I think positive action is called for, now that buildings have been burned, people killed and general mayhem loosed. Freedom of speech itself, not sensitivity to the feelings of others, is at stake. We are being told, "You don't have to believe in our religion, just act as if you do."

The press routinely covers stories about art that "transgresses" simply because they love to cover the conflict. The difference now is that the aggrieved *will* come and inflict violence or death, or a real threat of it, on them. Up to now, news people never had to take this too seriously. After all, this is America. Defenders of free speech will defend them. It's cool. Be cool.

Now, it's no longer cool. And we see who the fair-weather patriots, the true friends and defenders of freedom of speech really are. And we see who the cowards are.

I was going to run some of the cartoons, especially the bomb-turban one, last week. But I figured, being on sabbatical of sorts, it would be seen as merely sensationalistic and opportuniistic of this blogger, a stunt of some kind. So I demurred. The Muhammad emoticon was just so silly, so trivial, though, I went with it.

Still no answer from the few who still drop by. Has any Memphis media outlet run the Danish cartoons, or the many response cartoon in their wake? Or even the vile Arab Muslim cartoons that have run for years now? I noticed yesterday that the CA has been running a few pro-Islam, "can't we just understand them so we can all get along?" pieces lately. But I couldn't find anything addressing the cartoons directly. Only Wendi Thomas' oblique remark about "discussions" behind the scenes.
mike hollihan | Homepage | 02.

Ah, spoke too soon. The Sunday CA addresses the issue. I can't speak for the paper edition, but the online version only has a link to a link to the offending cartoons (at the very bottom of just one article, to boot). Three degrees of separation oughta protect 'em, I guess.

The rest is professionals and academics telling you what you should think and feel. Notably missing is comment from Christian, Jewish or Muslim clerics. I'm gonna guess that's because it would differ rather strongly from the calming medicine the CA wants you to take.

I didn't see any mention of the addition of the three most offensive images in the cartoon packet that was promulgated around the Middle East by a Danish cleric seeking to inflame Muslims into action. Nor that some of the demonstrations happened in nations where the government *never* allows public demonstrations not sanctioned and organised by them.

The CA also repeats that "American media" hasn't shown the images. In fact, FOX News has shown at least one. They broadcast the "bomb turban" image on last week's FOX News Sunday program.

Also missing is the statement of why the CA appears to be dancing around a news story rather than directly and fully reporting it. I'm guessing "We're cowards." is too direct a statement for the obscurantists at the paper. Editor Peck's column repeatedly emphasises that this is "political." Good, he at least sees that. It is political -- freedom of speech is a cornerstone principle of Western liberal democracy. Too bad he apologises to his new Islamic masters instead.

His argument is something like this: We've offended plenty of people of all politics and religions over the years, so we have nothing to prove. We have the power to run them right now, if we want to. Good political cartoons are provocative; they cause a reaction and make you think. These cartoons are provocative and cause a reaction. So we're not running these cartoons. First Amendment rules! High fives everyone!

Yeah, right.

Like I said, the Islamofascists, the radical fundamentalists, have made this a First Amendment issue. They have thrown down a gauntlet and issued a challenge. Rather than confront it like true defenders -- put their money where their mouths have been lo! these many decades -- the CA (and I guess the other local media) have all bowed to Mecca.

Fear will do that.

Enjoy your dhimmi status in the New World Order. Don't forget to pay your jizya.

Let's Compare

Dick Cheney - 0
Ted Kennedy - 1

Snow!

Whee, it's snowing now, ahead of schedule! The news is still predicting 3 to 5 inches for us in Memphis and West Tennessee. We'll see.

As a Deep Southerner, snow is an occasional enough thing for me that I still love it. Maybe I'll post some of the snow photos I've taken over the years of living here in Midtown.

I don't think -- and certainly don't hope -- that we're facing another Ice Storm '94 situation. I was awake and at work that night. Oh, the stories. It was a peak experience in my life, that's for sure.

Anyway, SSSNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWW!

INSTANT UPDATE: Well, that was short-lived. Not the snow. It's gone from big, fat, wet flakes to the snow equivalent of a steady light rain. Very pretty.

I mean the pristine renewal effect of a good blanket of snow. The street is too warm still, so all the snow is becoming slush with the steady flow of traffic.

It's the front yard and sidewalk. I had briefly forgotten that I live in a crack complex. The snow out front is trampled by the many feet of crack zombies coming in and out of the downstairs apartment. It's hilarious, in a way. You can tell precisely where everyone's going, and it's a bit too tramply to just be a few visitors. You can compare our stretch to every other home and apartment building on the block and immediately spot the difference. So sad. I wish I had a digital camera to show y'all.

On the other hand, nature is more relentless, widespread and far more powerful than even crackheads, so there's hope that later this evening things will even out a bit.

Yes, hope always springs eternal.

INSTANT FOLLOWUP: And now it's over! Not even four hours later, snow has stopped. The wet, gloppy stuff on trees and roofs is dripping to the ground; it's apparently still above freezing outside. Shoot.

Radar and television news says we still have hours to go. I hope so. White blankets! White blankets!

INSTANT CORRECTION: Whoops. About a half hour later it started back up. Very light here in Midtown, but still snowing. I noticed the temps are still hovering just above freezing, which is unfortunate. Tomorrow will be a slushy mess.

ANGRY 24 HOURS LATE UPDATE: What the hell is up with Blogspot? Seems it's as likely as not the past few weeks to get the "Republish your blog in 10 minutes" error message as to actually be able to upadate your blog. Some "enhancement" when you can't update your damn blog in a timely manner....

Thought For the Day

No matter who you vote for, the government gets in.

That'szszs Deszszspicable

But wait, there's more!

Adventures With MATA

[No, I'm not back. I just wanted to relate this story which is both hilarious and illustrative.]

Saturday, I took the bus from my apartment to Mark's. We were heading out to the Battle Bunker for some gaming. When I got on the 53 at the North Terminal, the driver was talking with someone (apparently a friend) about driving the number 11 bus. I backed up and re-read the number of the bus I was boarding before I gave her my transfer, because I have been known to board the wrong bus and her conversation made me wake up. She laughed and I smiled.

I took a seat roughly in the middle of the bus. Up ahead of me, on the parallel bench was a woman whose expression I instantly recognised. It was the naked, frank way she looked right at me, and the glinting light in her eye, and the huge smile splitting her face. She was mentally ill. I worked in a drug rehab center for ten years and I know that look. But she seemed in a happy place, so I relaxed.

As the bus wound down to the Parkway, she would occasionally say something in a loud mumble, the kind almost loud enough to understand but you have to ask them to repeat it clearly. She was vocalising her internal monologue, the odd thought in her mind popping out through her mouth. She kept looking around the bus at the other passengers, with that blunt smile, but no-one was engaging her.

Then the fun started. A woman I recognised from previous Saturday trips on this bus got on along the Parkway. She has the air of a country woman who now lives in the city, hard and closed in. A bit farther down Faxon, she suddenly leaps up and begins shouting something incoherent.

After a moment, she's saying, "Stop the bus! That's my daughter!" She grabs the bell cord and then runs to the front of the bus. She begins talking in a rushed, loud voice about her daughter just missing the bus. The driver pulls over.

Now I know who the daughter is. She gets on the bus at a later stop than her mom, bringing her young son, and they ride out Summer to the antique minimall area then get off together. Looking back, listening to the mother, it's clear the daughter is now about three blocks back, turning away from her missed bus.

The country woman is now haraunging the driver, to get her daughter on. She asks the driver to back the bus up! When that fails, she demands the driver wait while she goes to get her daughter and bring her back. The driver quietly explains she's on a schedule and needs to get moving again.

Seeing her daughter walking away, not seeing the stopped bus, the country woman climbs back on, loudly complaining and fussing the whole time. She never stops. "I've been told by drivers (later "a driver") that you can wait up to two minutes. It's hard in this world for everyone and we all have to stick together and help each other. Now she's got to wait a whole hour for the next bus. You're running early and she was at the stop at the usual time." Blah, blah, blah. On and on, non-stop, loudly.

After nearly ten minutes (or so it seemed), the driver finally couldn't stand it and they began to argue across the bus. At top volume. The country woman kept saying, "That's all I'm going to say." before she'd launch into another tirade. At one point, in response to a threat to report her behavior from the country woman, the driver said, "You can't get me fired! No one can!" (Which I thought a very revealing statement, indeed. Union? MATA protectionism? Bravado?)

The bus is tootling down to Summer and Hollywood now, and they're still going at it. The rest of the passengers are getting tired and uncomfortable, but no one's saying anything. The mentally ill woman is wide-eyed and po-faced.

The bus stops to pick up passengers. One is a middle-aged, silver-haired white guy in work t-shirt and jeans and cap, with some tools sticking out of his back pocket. He's not lean and hard, though, but soft and slightly overweight. He immediately asks what they are arguing about and suggests they stop it and let the driver drive. He takes a seat on the opposite bench from the mentally ill woman.

Some passengers take the opportunity the silver-haired guy offered to suggest the driver drive and they get moving. But the argument continues, and the white guy occasionally inserts his wisdom and advice. Things are growing heated.

The bus turns off Summer into the Binghamptom loop. And then it all goes to hell. The mentally ill woman, who is black, suddenly says something to a young white girl across from her, ending in a phrase that the whole bus hears: "White bitch." Dead silence from everyone.

Then the mentally ill woman, responding to something the white guy said that I didn't hear, got up and began to berate the white guy in a strong, clear voice. She ended by being three inches from his face and in the same powerful voice ended her tirade with "white bitch."

He flinched and floundered a second, then the ill woman suddenly threw back her right arm, cocked high and ready to slap the living crap out of him. The bus was now pulled over, all conversation but this was gone. But the ill woman then let her hand fall and sat back down.

The driver announced to the bus that we all needed to stop it, or did she need to call the police? Several riders in the back immediately piped up that they'd seen a police cruiser just ahead, around the block. It could be there in a moment. But the driver talked quietly to the ill woman and she stayed seated and fairly quiet, the odd mumble her only noise. After some adjustment, the bus continued.

One rider, a middle aged woman with a dignified bearing, made some general statement to the bus about MATA drivers, responsibility and being at the stop on time, which others in the back supported with ragged agreement.

The country woman stayed completely silent, seething (I looked at her once.) inside herself. The silver-haired guy was also silent. At one point the mentally ill woman got up and walked to the driver's side, then sat down before pulling the bell cord. After she got off, the young woman she'd called a "white bitch" said she had seen the ill woman around downtown a lot. Whatever that was supposed to mean....

At this point, we're going well down Summer. As every passenger from the back gets off, they exclaim their support for the driver and wish her well. I expressed my support for her, more quietly to her, when I got off. The country woman hasn't said a word, thin-lipped and hunched over.

High drama on the 53. Is it any wonder that -- given the choice at all -- folks don't ride MATA, no matter how they are enticed or bullied by the social engineers of the world? Being in someone else's vehicle traps you in their world, with all their problems.

One time, about fifteen years ago, I was taking the 50 Poplar back to the downtown from shopping out East. It was packed, with some folks standing in the aisles. I was the only white person on that bus, that day. (That's going to happen in a city like Memphis. I'm not complaining here, just pointing out something that's relevant in a moment.)

I had my headphones on, to screen out folks who might try to start up a conversation, but no music playing. I could hear everything clearly, but no one else knew that.

Seated right behind me was a very old guy who was obviously a long time drunk. He was completely shizzled, right on the edge of nodding off. He was mumbling to himself and, after a while, he kept mumbling about "white m*therf*ckers." When I didn't react, he got louder. I stole glances around the bus and folks kept eyeing me to see if I heard or how I was going to react. I kept an oblivious smile on my face and just sat there. The bus was otherwise quiet. No one said anything, to him or me.

After a very long while, the old man finally got off the bus. The person next to him called the driver back. The old man's seat was puddled with urine.

Ever since, I've always checked my bus seat before sitting down. I wonder how many bus seats Carol Coleta, Willie Herenton, Kevin Kane, Henry Turley, Pitt Hyde or Barry Lendermon have had to check?

Riding MATA requires certain skills. If you depend on the bus to be somewhere at a certain time, you are in trouble. If you expect it to be early, it will be late; if you depend on it to be late, it will be early. That's where the country woman and her daughter made their mistake. Even if the busses cross at a certain stop at the same time, and you have a transfer, don't depend on the timing. I've missed many busses that way. One is late or the other early.

Never assume that just because a bus has a street name on it that it will travel that street. The Summer bus detours part of its route through Binghampton. The 50 Poplar bus detours through the UM area. The 2 Madison winds all over the place near the downtown. If you pick the wrong block, then you're screwed. There will be no bus for you.

Every once in a while, there will be no bus at all. You will be at the right stop, at the right time. Other busses will come by, just not your's. Busses occasionally crash, break down, or have incidents like mine where police are called. I once waited thirty minutes downtown for a bus that never came before I started down to the North Terminal for another (Any!!) bus to get me home. Turns out my bus had an accident and bus traffic had been rerouted temporarily. Who knew?

Now, in that case and in all fairness to MATA, the MATA investigator on the scene immediately offered to give me a ride. Just like that. She was very nice and I was truly appreciative.

But that was a unique situation. I once stood in the middle of Poplar, waving my arms at the speeding bus driver trying to get him to stop for me, only to watch him zip right past with nary a pause. He saw me, too.

Some folks ride MATA because they have to. Some, like me, because we choose to. (I gave up my car about fifteen years ago by choice, in order to live a low-cost lifestyle. I get by thanks to friends and MATA.) Riding MATA takes adjustments and adaptations, as well as learning some skills and accepting some missed rides. But in today's "have it your way" culture very few want to make those adjustments. Fewer still want to be forcibly pushed up against the very kinds of people they tried to keep away from.

Anyway, that's that. And now, back into the Outback to continue the walkabout. Later y'all.

Everything But What I Want to Know

I was out this evening and it wasn't until I got home that I learned Ophelia Ford's Senate vote tomorrow has been blocked by a Federal judge.

But every story I've seen so far -- state and local papers, television news -- has omitted the most important part of the story: On what grounds was Ford's request for an injunction filed, and on what grounds was it granted? Why is a Federal judge intervening in a State matter?

Did everyone just miss that part somehow? How about, you know, reporting the news? Jeez but y'all newspeople are just getting worse and worse.

THURSDAY UPDATE: Ah, the Tennessean reports:

Ford's court complaint says the Senate discriminated against her and other black voters in her district because of their race and denied them the right to vote. The Senate took an initial vote Tuesday to unseat her....

In her complaint to the court, Ford says Roland does not prove the questionable votes are illegal and that the Senate vote hinged on "unproven residency and mistakes caused by election officials." ...

The complaint lists Ford and three other District 29 residents, including two who are black, as plaintiffs.

All 33 senators, along with Roland, are listed as defendants, but Ford does not bring allegations against the 14 who voted against the ouster.

The complaint says that the Senate's actions "unfairly discriminate against Sen. Ford, the African-American plaintiffs, on the count of their race" and that the vote "denies the right of individuals such as (the) Plaintiffs to be eligible to vote and have their vote counted."

Finally, the complaint says the 17 senators who did vote to unseat her "would deny the right to vote on account of race or color."

Of course, race is justification enough for the Feds, and an easy accusation for the Fords to sling.

Gotta wonder how Harold the Younger is feeling about his auntie stirring up the race pot with the very voters he needs to get seeing past race in order to vote for him. Heck, with him telling USA Today recently that he's "white" (and so Ophelia is "half-white" by that math) you're forced to wonder how they can even navigate this muddle.

Fords: Free entertainment for Tennessee.

THURSDAY UPDATE THE SECOND: As the comments on Bob Krumm's blog note, since when does the Federal judiciary have the power to tell a State legislature how to conduct its internal business? Can someone explain that one for me?

Adam Groves takes a stab it. More thoughts (and links) here.

Parting Thoughts

Parting Thoughts

1) Let's clear up this pretense that television news shows and local papers are some pure expression of the First Amendment. They are not. They are in the business of selling a commercial product -- namely their readership -- to businesses with another product to sell. The "news" (or in the case of the Commercial Appeal, "information you can use") is the hook to get eyeballs to their product; more eyeballs means higher ad rates. Getting certain groups of eyeballs, as determined by market research consultants, also means higher ad rates.

Protestations that the news is pre-eminent over the business side of things is a case of the tail thinking it wags the dog. How many newspapers and television stations hire consultants to juice up their presentation to attract more eyeballs? How many bring in consultants who tell them how to pursue and uncover hard to report stories? Exactly.

News is a commercial enterprise. Learn that and you'll begin to better understand what you're watching and reading. They do not serve you, but the needs to make a profit and stay in business.

2) Just for fun, for the people in the local media who read this blog, I have a hypothetical: You learn that there is a terrorist cell in Memphis. They take you to their meeting place, where you see a few of them and hear them discuss not blowing up something, but setting up a network for later terrorists to come into, who will then begin bombings, etc.

Do you go to the police immediately? Do you call your News Director first? Do you do the story and never contact the police? If you just do the story, when the police and FBI later contact you, do you give them all the information they request? What would you do, and why?

3) Ophelia Ford will not lose her Senate seat. Get used to it. The Senate committee investigating this will send a strong -- though toothless -- rebuke to the Shelby County Election Commission. The Senate will place all responsibility there, as they certified the election and therefore Ophelia Ford. Anyone who thinks the Senate will refuse to seat Ford isn't looking at all the other senators who might one day face a similar challenge. You expect them to set a precedent for their own ouster?

4) I am now fully convinced that the Tennessee Republican Party doesn't want to run a successful candidate against Phil Bredesen for governor. We are seeing the same thing we've seen in the past two second-term gubernatorial elections in Tennessee. Both Ned McWhirter and Don Sundquist faced token (and that's being kind) opposition from the opposing parties in their re-elections.

Here we are in the middle of January of the election year, and no candidate! It's far too late to mount any kind of strong, effective, wide-based campaign by now. No one has come forward and no one seems too worried about it.

It's not what some Republicans are trying to claim -- that Bredesen is a formidable candidate. He's not. He squeaked by Hilleary and has come under all sorts of fire since. Bredesen is wide-open vulnerable on ethics, corruption and his handling of TennCare. He took state-shared revenues from Tennessee municipalities to balance his first budget. That move precipitated a lot of the budget crises we've seen across the State. The State has been running large surpluses ever since, but has never restarted revenue sharing.

The Assembly could, under strong Republican leadership, both restart revenues and cut the state sales tax by 1/2%, and still run surpluses! Yes, a half-percent cut is miniscule, but it's the symbolism of it, the statement of seriousness in really cutting taxes for Tennesseans, that is the gain. A gubernatorial candidate who aligns with Senate Majority Leader Ron Ramsey could start a powerful wedge to use against Jimmy Naifeh in the House. It's a winning platform, and a strong one, so it's no surprise no one in Nashville has advocated it.

I am certain that we are being set up, for the third time, for another run at the income tax. As others have noted, the Assembly seems to want to devolve some taxing authority down to the cities. Shelby County, at least, is interested in enacting a tax on business payrolls, which is not precisely an income tax but functions that way. Seeing how differently worded variations of the privilege tax go through the State courts will help to illuminate the path for writing a successful State income tax. I'm sure of it.

Look back to the various plans that were put forward when the income tax was last debated. There was only one common feature to every proposal -- eliminating the Hall tax on investment income. There a reason for that: the enormously wealthy who live off investment income want their tax burden relieved. Yes, all you hear about are the "grannies having the stocks taxed" but the real hits are to the ultra-wealthy. These are the folks who provide the real cash, and the real power, to the elites in the leadership of the Democrat and Republican parties in Tennessee. That's a big part of why the income tax keeps coming back.

The other is the more prosaic. An income tax is nearly invisible, especially as compared to the sales tax. How many times have you gone shopping for stuff, keeping a total in your head, only to be shocked by the final, after-tax, total? Now, how many of you can say how much you take home every week? But can you tell me how much is taken out in various taxes before that? Exactly. Most folks can't. Most folks think of "what they earn" as their take-home pay, not their actual pay. When an income tax increase comes along, it works out to a few dollars, or tens of dollars, per paycheck. Doesn't seem so bad, right? Not until you multiply that by every paycheck you got that year.

The Republican Party leadership this time is as bought and paid for as the Democratic Party leadership was in 1998. You will see the income tax revived in 2007. Mark my words.

=== === === === ===

And so, I take my leave. I'm out on walkabout. I'll check comments, once in a while, but basically (unless something is really worth it), I'm on hiatus for real.

Y'all take care.

Here's a Thought

Whenever property taxes in Shelby County come up, especially when the talk is about raising them yet again, the topic always comes to the problem of senior citizens on fixed incomes being stuck with increasing bills they find harder and harder to pay. Well here's a thought: Seniors should refuse to pay.

Let a group of retirees go to court and then to jail. See what happens next. (Of course, the County's not stupid. They'll use foreclosure, which is a long, boring process, rather than allow something dramatic like news footage of some granny being taken through 201.)

Still, I'd love to see a group of seniors play a bluff with the County on this.

The Great Gulf War

Glad to know I'm not the only one who sees parallels between Nazi Germany's rise in the 1930's and events in Iran today. No less a person than Niall Ferguson writes:

The optimists argued that the Cuban Missile Crisis would replay itself in the Middle East. Both sides would threaten war - and then both sides would blink. That was Secretary Rice's hope - indeed, her prayer - as she shuttled between the capitals. But it was not to be.

The devastating nuclear exchange of August 2007 represented not only the failure of diplomacy, it marked the end of the oil age. Some even said it marked the twilight of the West. Certainly, that was one way of interpreting the subsequent spread of the conflict....

Sharon's stroke happened at the worst possible moment, and Netanyahu may not pick up the slack in time. America is already making noises about leaving Iraq too soon. Our military is stretched hard at the moment. The American public is at the traditional point of losing interest, and being hustled along by Democrats and their allies in the media.

Ahmadinejad is a Hitler analogue. Reprising Chamberlain's "peace in our time" overtures isn't the way to go. Pre-emptive action is, but can we follow through? I'm not sure.

And that worries me.

A Desire Named Streetcar

The Cato Institute has released a study on public transportation that should be read by Memphians who have already had the Madison Trolley inflicted on them, and have the Airport "light rail" system waiting in the wings.

Prior to 1964, when Congress began subsidizing transit, the industry was mostly private. Since then, the industry has been almost entirely taken over by state and local governments. Today more than three of every four dollars spent on transit come from taxpayers, not transit riders....

The nation's mass transit system is a classic example of how special interests prevail over the needs and interests of voters and taxpayers. Total inflation-adjusted subsidies to transit—buses and trains—have more than doubled since 1990, yet total ridership has increased by less than 10 percent. Train ridership has dropped dramatically while automobile use has skyrocketed.

I've only skimmed it, so I don't have much more to add yet.

Remember this: the Madison Trolley is presently being subsidised in large part by Federal dollars. Slightly more than a million dollars a year in Federal money will go away in a couple more years, to be picked up by the City of Memphis. Similar operating subsidies apply to the Airport line, and will go away over time, leaving Memphis to pay for something that few use.

There are only two reasons these rail / trolley things happened. First is an activist group determined to turn downtown Memphis into Manhattan on the Mississippi. The Belz / Turley group have massive investment both downtown and in the Mayor, and expect results. The Smart City crowd want to build an island of prosperity for themselves at the expense of the rest of Memphis. The trolley / rail thing is part of the illusion of progressive city planning.

Also, local builders and contractors want those millions of Federal dollars. It doesn't matter to them if the thing gets used or not, or how successful or remunerative it is. Their only concern is the building of it, which they profit from immensely. If the choice is between having millions of dollars flow into the community to build another white elephant or not, they choose to build.

It will mean traffic tie-ups for years, again. It will mean higher taxes for Memphis, to pick up the slack in coming years. It will mean higher bus fare and declining service from MATA. It will mean expensive maintenance, if that happens, or more likely it will mean slowly deteriorating rails and roads until the City Council is presented with an expensive crisis.

The City really wants the line to tie in Downtown, Overton Square and Cooper-Young, even if that means the imposition of rail lines, stops and wires in spaces that can't handle them. They will destroy OS and C-Y in order to make them prosperous feeders to Downtown. The smarter choice, along Lamar, will play havoc with already congested traffic and present more pedestrian dangers, but it's the "wrong" kind of neighborhood to regenerate, if you know what I mean. And I know you do, if you're a Memphian.

But hey, at least we'll be necklaced by this albatross and can claim our rightful place alongside other "world class cities" because of it. Somehow that's more important than civic and fiscal responsibility.

The Tent Grows a Bit Smaller

And so it ends for yet another Tennessee blogger. The other tentpole of the Tennessee blogosphere is calling it a day. Bill Hobbs, along with the also-deceased South Knox Bubba, were the twin tentpoles helping to hold the tent up. With both of them now gone, the blogosphere here in the Volunteer state finally shatters into a million constituent parts, most likely never to regain any organising principle of such force ever again.

I suppose it was inevitable, but it's still sad.

Proof of Alternate Dimensions

Senator Ted Kennedy seems an unlikely source of proof that alternate dimensions -- worlds very much like ours where events happened slightly differently, like the South winning the Civil War or someone else winning a presidential election -- exist. And yet, in a press roundtable this week, he did:

Briefly, Kennedy rewrote the outcome of the 1964 election. "This nominee was influenced by the Goldwater presidency," he said. "The Goldwater battles of those times were the battles against the civil rights laws." Only then did Kennedy acknowledge that "Judge Alito at that time was 14 years old."

Had this been Bush, it would be proof of his idiocy ala Reagan. But from Ted, well it's just proof that his brain is still sloshing around in booze.

I've Been Podcasted!

Jungle Kitty is a Star Trek fanfiction writer who used to be very active on the alt.startrek.creative newsgroup back when I was also active there. I stopped writing fanfic, though she did not. She's now teamed up with a friend (Lene Taylor) to do a podcast about their Number One Obsession: Captain James T. Kirk, and the actor who plays him, William Shatner. The podcast is called Look At His Butt!

I've been listening for a while now, not because I'm a Kirk fan -- I preferred writing TNG and Voyager stories -- but because they are so damn funny. I'm only mentioning it here because in the latest podcast they briefly talk about me and a story I did called Star Trek: Clambake! It comes up after the mid-show break, around the 26 minute mark. Go and download the podcast and give it a listen. (It takes about an hour at dialup speeds; much less for broadband.) They have the rare ability to make it seem like you're a part of their conversation, not that they're talking to you.

While you're at the Trekiverse archive reading Clambake!, go to the Search tool and enter my last name (Hollihan) to see more of the 3 dozen or so of my stories archived there. I'm really proud of them. I fell away from writing fanfic, which I regret, but during the decline I started to construct and write my own ST series, Star Trek: USS Goddard (or maybe Star Trek: Discovery Corps; I keep wavering) which I think had a lot of potential. I want to go back to it someday and take it up. (The website is incomplete and missing a lot of stuff, so don't sweat broken links or missing graphics.)

Anyway, yes you read right, I'm in a podcast called "Look At His Butt!" Laugh amongst yourselves. Thanks to the ladies at LAHB for the too-kind words.

The Iranian Problem

It's not making much news in America it seems, but Iran's coming acquisition of nuclear weapons is prompting some gloomy predictions of what comes next.

Part of the "no news" has been a recent trip by high level American administration officials to Turkey, widely assumed to be securing permissions for flyovers and staging if action in Iran becomes necessary. Until Sharon's stroke, it was assumed that Israel would be taking action against Iran as they did in the 80's against Iraq, with US blessing.

The article and discussion linked seem to think the appropriate model is Europe in 1918, but I think it's more like Germany in the mid-30's. Iran's leader is open, defiant and unapologetic in his desire to see Israel erased from the world and the Jews exterminated. The American media may demurely look away, hoping he's not really serious, but the evidence is that he is. We can nervously pretend he's not a wolf, but given a chance he, like Hitler, will go for our jugulars.

We in the West tend to forget that Iran is the modern day successor state to the ancient Persian civilisation, which has controlled most of the Middle East throughout history. I don't think Iran has territorial ambitions, but I do believe they have economic ones.

Read the discussion. It tends to the spectacular and apocalyptic, but there's a lot of meat to chew on. This year looks to be The Year of Tenterhooks.

Read This Essay

Yeah, I know, gone on walkabout, not back soon, blah, blah, blah. But I read this Mark Steyn essay and demand that you read it too. It talks about multiculturalism, demographics, liberal democracy, Islam, government largesse and the future. The outlook is very, very worrying.

He touches on topics and projections that I've sometimes talked about here. How American military might made the European social safety net possible, to everyone's detriment. The death of "Europe" within a century. The displacement of Western liberal democracy as the central guiding force of history. How demographics are driving that future more than academic theory.

The only thing missing in Steyn's essay is an examination of secularism vs religiousity. European, Anglosphere and Asian birthrates are plummeting in those nations most driven by secularism, where the influence of religion is waning or waned. Look to South America or Southeastern and Pacific Asia, where religion is still strong in daily life, and you see more marriage and larger families. They do not face the demographic doom we do.

In fact, America's birthrate is just above the replacement rate only because of our laissez fair immigration policy. Look at population growth solely by Americans and you see that we, too, are below the replacement rate. It's only the massive influx of Hispanics, and secondarily the high birthrate of African-American women, that kept us above that line. Factor that out, and we're in Europe's boat as well.

It's a stunningly powerful essay. Read it and think on it.

Nap Time

I'm going back on hiatus again. Don't know how long.

I'm just not following the news any more. I haven't picked up a paper in at least a month; haven't been to their website but maybe a handful of times in the same period. Not watching television news, except sporadically. (And I'm still not watching WMC/5 at all. They still have that abominable hypocrite Susan Adler Thorpe as a commentator.)

I make the regular blog reading rounds, but a lot of the "second tier" stuff I used to keep up with has fallen away. Lots going on, I'm sure, but so what?

I'm just not informed, nor do I particularly feel the need to be. The world goes on just fine no matter what I think or say. The political leadership are secure in their positions; the voting populace appears to be just fine with 'em. It's all cozy and financially rewarding. The road to hell is well paved and we're riding in a cushy vehicle with wraparound seating, a CD/DVD player, cruise control and noise-cancelling technology.

I've tried to at least keep a hand in, but the quality and type of posts over the past month or two have obviously been crap. Traffic has drooped by half.

Depression, burnout, lassitude, laziness, apathy, hopelessness, seasonal affective disorder. Call it that and more. It's hard to care.

So I'm off to bank the fires and hope for rekindling. It'll probably happen; don't fear. I'm just not sure when. I wouldn't check by here too often, as I plan to walk away for awhile.

Take care and I'll see ya when I return.