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Nashville, Tennessee

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Nashville Scene - Pith in the Wind

The Nashville Scene News Blog

The State of Dean's Speech Is....Crapalicious

Posted May 16, 2008 at 03:40:11 PM by Matt Pulle

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Well, the reviews are in—Mayor Karl Dean's State of the Metro Address has been panned by both the City Paper and the Scene, the two papers that actually follow local politics. The address was bland, unchallenging and had several head-scratching moments, which we mock and ridicule after the jump.


Continue reading "The State of Dean's Speech Is....Crapalicious"...
Category: By the Way, Crazy Crap, Education, Politics, Pulle
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Hope Is a Good Thing...And So Are Toe Nail Clippers

Posted May 16, 2008 at 12:30:29 PM by Matt Pulle

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So in the course of reporting a story about several local inmates, I came across a Metro Public Health Department memo that outlines several complaints. Below are just a few real-life gripes from behind bars. The Shawshank Redemption this is not.

“On 11-9-07 at supper I received two hotdogs with bread but only one ketchup and one mustard for both. This was not enough for both hot dogs.”

Status: The complaint was investigated. The inmate was receiving the standard amount of condiments.

“Nurse got smart with me for no valid reason. I'm entitled to better treatment than that.”

Status: Nurse was interviewed, but there is no way to prove or disprove this allegation.

“The Christmas card my family sent to the jail was returned to sender. I want my Christmas cards. My rights are violated.”

Status: The complaint was investigated. Inmates are told all musical cards are returned because they contain contraband (metal). Inmate reminded of the jail mail policy he received upon intake.

“I have been denied medical treatment. I've not been able to cut my toenails in over a month.

Status: Complaint investigated. Nail clippings are performed on weekends according to staff availability and should be prioritized with all inmate medical needs. Nail clippings involve the use of a 'sharp' and inmates cannot keep clippers 'on their person' for security/safety reasons. The inmate appealed the medical response to the grievance. The Health Department reviewed the case and found in favor of the inmate since nail clippings had not been offered in a reasonable amount of time. The medical department proceeded to 'catch-up' on all nail clipping requests.”

Category: Crazy Crap, Pulle
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Reeling in That Marlin

Posted May 16, 2008 at 09:02:31 AM by Matt Pulle

Nothing like a little Chris Matthews to jump start your Friday morning. In this clip, the MSNBC staple plays a little hardball with Kevin James, a conservative talk show host from Los Angeles. (And not the costar of Hitch.) It took a clearly irritable Matthews about four minutes to embarrass and humiliate James, who was rabidly echoing Bush's comparison of Barack Obama to former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain without really knowing what Chamberlain did to enable Hitler's rise to power. When Matthews discovered that James' grasp of history was even shakier than Bush's, he moved in for the kill, angrily devouring the talk show host as he revealed his ignorance. It's absolutely captivating television.

And, yes, there's nothing local about this clip, but if it would make you feel better, imagine Phil Valentine sitting in James' place. He wouldn't have fared any better. Steve Gill, on the other hand, would have held his own. We'll give him that much.

Category: Media, Politics, Pulle
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It's Not Personal; It's Personal

Posted May 15, 2008 at 02:53:03 PM by Matt Pulle

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This week we wrote about how Gov. Phil Bredesen's office wouldn't turn over so-called “personal” emails to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR) after they posed a series of irritating questions about the ongoing restoration of the Executive Residence. The libertarian think tank understandably frets that Bredesen's flacks are labeling controversial emails as “personal” so that they won't ever become fodder for the governor's detractors.

What makes Bredesen's position all the more bizarre—in addition to the fact that it flies in the face of the state's open records' law—is that his office has no problem turning over emails that certainly seem personal. That just fuels suspicion that the governor's people are just slapping the “personal” tag on whatever it is they want to hide and not on correspondence that was meant to be private.

TCPR had asked for a screen shot of the inbox of Judy Folk, who works for first lady Andrea Conte, also known as the "FL," who has spearheaded work on the Bredesen Bunker and has clearly been annoyed by its detractors. Anyhow, after the jump we have a partial list of of emails from Folk's computer that the governor's office had no problem sharing with the think tank. These are just the subject lines:

Update: Our new friends at the Tennessee Republican Party have issued a statement about Bredesen's issues with electronic correspondence.


Continue reading "It's Not Personal; It's Personal"...
Category: Media, Politics, Pulle
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Where's Rev. Wright When You Need Him?

Posted May 14, 2008 at 12:17:53 PM by Matt Pulle

I just finished reading The Tennessean's series on Metro schools, which I found refreshingly pessimistic. But in part two of the series, which reported on the supposed superiority of Williamson County schools, I couldn't find any discussion of the racial and ethnic profiles of both districts. It would be lovely if those weren't factors in a school district's performance but because of a host of thorny issues—segregated housing patterns, the challenges in educating immigrant children—we can't just ignore them because they make us uncomfortable.

Perhaps the most irritating part of the story was when a Williamson County biz pig claimed that civic leadership is responsible for the district's academic profile, even though the county largely gets to educate the children of middle and upper class parents. Even Pedro could have handled that task.

Category: Media, Pulle
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Is Gov. Phil Defying Public Records Law?

Posted May 08, 2008 at 09:41:20 AM by Matt Pulle

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Faced with new scrutiny of the infamous Bredesen Bunker, your Tennessee governor's office is making the unlikely claim that emails transmitted on public computers and with state addresses are not necessarily public record, a mind-boggling stance that contradicts years of accepted practice here and throughout the country.

Late last year, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research asked Gov. Phil Bredesen's office for copies of all emails related to the ongoing renovation of the Executive Residence, a massive project that sparked controversy among Republicans and the first couple's immediate neighbors. But administration officials refused to turn over correspondence it regards as “personal,” even though state open records law makes no such distinction.

After the jump, we bust out some Tennessee Code Annotated for y'all:


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Category: Law and Order, Politics, Pulle
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This Week in Karl Dean

Posted May 06, 2008 at 08:54:32 AM by Matt Pulle

Looks like Karl Dean is going into full-on Dick Cheney mode with only a handful of public appearances on tap for the week. Considering that the Metro Council is unlikely to do much more than switch out a comma or two on his budget proposal, Dean wouldn't seem to have a whole lot on his plate these days. Anyone know if our New England mayor is a Celtics' fan?

MAYOR KARL DEAN - PUBLIC SCHEDULE - WEEK OF MAY 5-11

Monday, May 5
--

Tuesday, May 6
7 p.m. - National Teacher Day Banquet, Celebrating Retirees and MNEA Awardees - Millennium Maxwell House Hotel

Wednesday, May 7
--

Thursday, May 8
6:15 p.m. - 37th Annual Community Nashville Human Relations Awards Dinner - Loews Vanderbilt

Friday, May 9
7:30 a.m. - Bike to Work Day event - Schermerhorn Symphony Center

Saturday, May 10
12:30 p.m. - Iroquois Steeplechase - Percy Warner Park

Sunday, May 11

Category: Politics, Pulle
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All About Eve

Posted May 05, 2008 at 03:35:38 PM by Matt Pulle

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What can we say? It's another slow day on our blog as we try to get the dead tree version of Pith out the door. Fortunately for the local blogosphere (I still hate that word), Nashville Is Talking has a rather, um, revealing exposé about one of the backers of the silly Bible Theme Park in Murfreesboro. NIT's Christian Grantham merely performed a Google search on Amnon Bar-Tur, who is one of the project's sponsors, and discovered that he was “once more known for his photographs of cover girls and 'Pets of the Month' for Penthouse Magazine.”

I hear his pictures of Eve were very tasteful.

Category: Crazy Crap, Media, Pulle
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Should the Council Meddle in Our School District?

Posted May 02, 2008 at 12:43:41 PM by Matt Pulle

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This week in Confederacy of Dunces, we mocked Antioch Metro Council member Duane Dominy for his resolution calling for school administrators to toil every now and then as substitute teachers. The bill, which hasn't been filed yet, would apply to all school officials above the principal level. I could see why the idea has merits: Bureaucrats can lose touch with the people and programs they're supposed to administer, though it seems like an extraordinarily meek way to address the gaping problems in our district. Sounds more like a publicity stunt to me.

But here's the snarkier question we more or less asked (and answered) in the paper this week: Do we really want our council members suggesting policy at Bransford Avenue? Or do we just want them to preside over silly zoning disputes, rubber stamp the mayor's budget and pen innocuous resolutions honoring Girl Scout troops?

As you might imagine, some people thought we were being too dismissive of our city's legislative body. After the jump, one council member, who doesn't want to be named but gave us permission to use the following, pens a rather thoughtful response to the editor:


Continue reading "Should the Council Meddle in Our School District?"...
Category: 40 Jealous Whores, Politics, Pulle
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The Lowdown

Posted May 02, 2008 at 11:01:09 AM by Matt Pulle

Nice scoop for former Tennessean reporter Chris Low on how former UT hoops star Chris Lofton secretly battled cancer during the last basketball season. The piece, which ran on ESPN.com, detailed how Lofton was diagnosed with testicular cancer toward the end of the 2006-2007 season and that to keep his treatment under wraps, UT coach Bruce Pearl disguised himself when he visited his star player in the hospital.

A former UT beat reporter for The Tennessean, Low is one of ESPN.com's more prolific writers, typically covering SEC football and basketball. And now we come to the part of my post when I add some sort of cheap shot. Let's try this one: "I can't imagine ESPN ever recruiting the Vandy beat writer for The Tennessean." So there you go.

Category: Media, Pulle
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