Remarks to a friendly crowd...

Oops! I made a mistake. Without researching further, I wrote a blog about Mayor Cunningham's apology for remarks he actually made on May 9 at the annual Lincoln Day Republican fundraiser. In error I did not notice, until someone reminded me, that his apology came several days later. Well... this makes for an even better blog.

There were 350 Republicans at this gathering and they all (assuredly) heard the remark. The real story would to interview these attendees and get their public reactions to Cunningham's comments about the Democrats who were victim's of Cunningham's diatribe.

I made a mistake, but ... I do not apologize for a criticism I made of Democrat's accepting his "gracious" apology. This is a pattern followed by Republicans nationwide. Make an outrageous statement and then apologize after the damage has been done. Cunningham knew what he was doing when he made his remarks.

There is no forum where a politician can make remarks without fear of being monitored. I would even be careful of where I prayed... Barack Obama found out the hard way about how "private" remarks can come back and bite you in the ass after he made his "bitter" comments in San Francisco.

Cunningham has been around politics for a long time. He is no virgin. He is also an elected public servant who is supposed to be serving "all" the people and not just the whims and wishes of the "in" crowd.

One remark, that particularly got me, was the remark that, according to Cunningham, most of his critics came from "someplace else." My God, Jerry, where did you expect them to come from? With Blount's growth rate, new people are a guaranteed certainty. With new people come new ideas and unfortunately, for Jerry, they don't seem to particularly care for the "old boy" crowd that has dominated Blount County politics for as long as I can remember.

His remarks and apology come right out of the Republican "dirty tricks" playbook. Maybe it's time for Jerry Cunningham to move on.

Is George Bush Scared!

Here we go again. An American politician in a foreign country speaking as if the folks at home aren't monitoring his words. Before I go there, let's take a look at recent events regarding the Bush Administration:

Muammar Qaddafi is a terrorist... is that right? Didn't this guy sponsor terrorism out of Libya for years before we did anything about him? Didn't we bomb his tent and kill his daughter. Just checking - I think my history is right on that. Anyway, didn't the Bush Administration recently NEGOTIATE with Qaddafi and bring him into the fold and aren't we now trading with him - oil - I think it is...

Kim Jung Il - am I wrong or doesn't this guy sponsor terrorists and sell missiles to our enemies. Didn't he just recently frighten us when he claimed to have created nuclear weapons? Didn't we send emissaries to China to NEGOTIATE with this bozo?

Now we have George Bush speaking to the Israeli Knesset low grading Barack Obama for even having the audacity to suggest we begin talks with Iran. Where is this guy coming from?

Could it be that having lost 3 traditional Republican seats to Democrats in recent special elections, Bush may have seen fit to interfere in the Democratic primary process - doing something unheard of - lambasting an American political candidate while in a foreign country. I'm sure John McCain appreciates his help...

Oh - and by the way - in the photo above, George is holding hands with the leader of the country that supplied most of the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center.

Shame on you George...

Limbaugh and Lou Dobbs

In my political journey, I used to be fans of both of these guys. Now, it is all I can do to listen to them. Limbaugh, I noticed is being pointedly referred to as comedian by some political pundits. There are many reasons why I originally left Limbaugh, but recently his interference with the American Election process has been the clincher. There have been too many young Americans who have recently died to keep our elections free and untampered with to put up with the stunts of Rush Limbaugh.

Another media demagogue who in his own way has contributed to the rise of hate in America is commentator Lou Dobbs. CNN better remove Dobbs soon or they will suffer a lowering of viewership.

Here is a test for you if you are follower of Dobbs. His polls. Have you ever counted the numbers? Each night he gets about 9000 to eleven thousand responses to the loaded questions he asks. I'm starting to think his viewship is not too much over that.

Would you be surprised that Dobbs wife, Debbi Segura Dobbs is herself a Mexican. A Mexican with a criminal record. Dobbs has a lot to hide.

Both these guys are opportunists i.e. they're both in it for the money and will do or say anything to keep those dollars flowing...

Representative McCord Lights Up!

Representative Joe McCord of Maryville has little problem with being blatantly hypocritical. In what seems like a comical farce - if it wasn't so serious - the legislator openly defies the state's no smoking ban in public buildings. He does this by establishing a smoking and obviously a drinking room in a state office building. While everyone else must go outside, McCord and his chums smoke and drink away on YOUR nickle.

I don't know McCord but is he known to be a hypocrite? Looking at the lengths the man had gone to dodge the law, if I were a citizen of Blount County, I would most definitely be looking at every piece of legislation with his name on it.

What happens to these guys once they get elected? Is it something in the water?

McCord lights up!

The Election in Pennsylvania

Just when you thought it was over - it isn't ... at least not yet. From Iowa until now, what I've learned is that this election season is unpredictable. Both Hillary and Barack Obama are relentless in pursuit of the prize. Dirty tricks by both campaigns are amazing. "Swift boating" looks tame compared to Hillary's "Bosnia Flap" and Obama's "Reverend Jerimiah Wright Scandal." No matter how you look at either Hillary or Obama, neither one of these two are political virgins.

Truthfully, I don't like any of them. And just in case your wondering, I don't like McCain either. I have labels for each of them: Obama - slick; Hillary - the fibber; McCain - more of the same.

Has our political process devolved to this? Our country has real problems that require real world solutions and it seems to me that something is missing. Why does each of the candidates have to be millionaires?

Look around you - how many of your buddies are millionaires? What happened to politically "incorrect" presidential candidates? All of these guys are so tame in what they utter, I get bored.

It is scary that each of these candidates seem like they're "owned" by someone.

Here are my politically incorrect fears:

Hillary wants eight more years(counting her husband's time)of making as much money as she can from the office.

Obama is a wolf in sheep's clothing. I fear that he will go on a prosecutorial witch hunt against the Bush Administration. He is so revolutionary, I fear his campaign is a major exercise in deception. I don't think America is ready for blood in the streets.

McCain has that "far away" look that makes one scared that his thumb on the button with the chemistry of his temper makes for a bad mix.

Is there anybody else? Where's Guy Fawkes when you need him?

Highway 73 Beer Joints

Living at Hubbard, it was impossible to go home without passing two drive-in restaurants, a major automobile junkyard, a drive-in movie theatre, and two beer joints.

These two beer joints could get you in trouble. First they were both right on the highway and it was impossible at certain times at night to pass by without risking a collision with some hapless drunk heading home. Second, if you were a tourist, and accidently wandered in by mistake, you might end up having a very exciting evening...

Beer joints down South are not the same as "bars" up north. Fights were almost always a guarantee. If you ever had any curiousity about the criminal element, a beer joint could bring you up close and personal. Scratch-off games, pinball machines that paid off in cash, and low-level prostitution were not uncommon. If you were willing to pay a premium price, a bottle of bootleg whiskey could be had - saving a trip to Knoxville.

Not very far from my home at Hubbard, there was a beer joint that literally "hung" off the side of the hill in the low part of a hollow. It had no parking area to speak of and the "empties" were piled up along the side of the building. These beer joints did not check ID's so it was wasn't unusual for an underage crowd to frequent these places. One story that is my favorite was of two boys - one rowdy and one a teetotaler. On this night the rowdy one went missing. There was a death in the family and everyone was looking for him. The "tame" brother who looked remarkably like the "rowdy" one, started searching the beer joints. Without cell phones searches like this were difficult. As the "tame" brother wandered in to the beer joint, he was knocked cold by a beer bottle across the head.

The dangers of mistaken identity...

The Family Genealogist

Have you ever been to a genealogy website? They're everywhere. Someone decides they are going to do the family a favor and chronicle it's history with no idea how much confusion they are going to cause by their efforts. Sometimes what results can be a disaster, particularly if the chronicler is basing his or her information on the partial memories of someone who has no memories left. I've seen some of those sites and I'm sure you have as well.

Then there is the "everybody arrived riding white horses" website... All the history is purged and purified. There were are no black sheep ... not even any gray ones.

In our family we have a great genealogical website. The person who runs it is top notch. Ironically, Claudia Carson, who compiles the Whitehead family history, is a "yankee" and runs the website from her home on Long Island in New York. She has many insights into Blount County just from the experience she has in compiling our family history.

Claudia's secret is that she is non-exclusionary. In other words she has made a decision to include everyone who goes by the family surname. Our family website is full of photographs, stories, and bits of information that relate to our family and other closely related surnames. Our chronicler's methods are scientific and to the best of my knowledge - accurate. Claudia would not claim to be a professional genealogist, but by her actions and discipline, you have no doubt that the history she is compiling is authentic.

There are photographs at our site that you won't find anywhere else. While I've been under the weather, I've explored some of many pages of family history that Claudia Carson has compiled on the Whitehead family. She has located Whiteheads from all over the United States and has made contacts with some in other countries... all from her little home in Long Island...

The website is protected and if you are interested in taking a peek, contact me at miket@thomsontalks.com.