Welcome to Nashville Soapbox

Sheriff wants child-sex-tape suspect alive

nashvillephan — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 19:39:41 +0000

That’s kind of ironic that they want this guy alive, but I want him dead. Anyone who’d do that to a child deserves quite the painful slow death.

Free the Jena 6? Are you on crack?!

nashvillephan — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:17:47 +0000

By now you should know what’s going on with the Jena 6. Here are my thoughts on the subject.

I don’t know if the white students should have been prosecuted or not for hanging nooses from the tree. It was deplorable and stupid but I am not sure if there is a crime involved. The black students should absolutely be prosecuted for attacking this white student.

Should the charges be attempted murder? Everyone says, “They used their shoes, that’s not trying to kill him” but there is a lot of force in your kicks and if you are kicking someone repeatedly in the head, you could kill them. I have also heard people say attempted murder should not be the charge because the guy was able to attend a school event that night. If I take a shot at someone and they’re only grazed by the bullet, is that not attempted murder?

If the white student had died, no one would be questioning murder charges. All that said, I am not sure if attempted murder charges are justified. I am no lawyer nor am I that well versed on law. But it appears the folks going down there to protest are wanting no charges pressed whatsoever.

No charges or punishment for a beating that was essentially vigilante justice?! Are you smoking crack? First of all, the guy who was beaten was not even the one who hung the nooses from the tree, according to news reports. Secondly, the beating was months after the nooses were hung. Third, nooses hanging from a tree is not justification for mobbing and beating someone.

Finally, those protesting the unequal treatment are really making themselves sound ignorant by comparing the punishment of the students responsible for the noose and the charges against these students. According to the DA there, there aren’t even any laws he could find that would have applied to this situation. So should you make up something to charge the students with because they did something offensive? NO!

One other thing: the media is trying to make this sound as if it’s a new Civil Rights movement. Most of the comments I’ve heard from people protesting this down in Jena show their reasons for protesting are “to be part of history.” They simply want to be able to say they were involved in something.

I am tired of the knee-jerk reaction Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and seemingly the black community as a whole have when a black person is charged with any crime. The black person is immediately deemed an innocent victim of a racist justice system, even when there is NO QUESTION as to the guilt of the perpetrator. When it’s a white on black crime, they don’t even hesitate to assign guilt to the white suspect. Ever heard of innocent until proven guilty? Do you guys remember coming down on the white Duke rape suspects?

I’ve also heard reports, though I haven’t read any yet, that the white student had a gun and the 6 were defending themselves. Once they got the gun from him, they had no need to defend themselves. Punching a man and beating and kicking and stomping him as he lays there unconscious is not self defense.

Here are a couple of quotes from Booker T Washington, who must have been psychic and seen that we would now have race baiters and charlatans like Jesse and Al in our midst:

“There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs. Partly because they want sympathy, and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”

“There is a certain class of race problem-solvers who don’t want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public.”

Fred Thompson visits Lawrenceburg

nashvillephan — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 16:50:05 +0000

Well, about 99.9% of the rumors about who would be performing for Fred’s appearance in Lawrenceburg turned out to be wrong. The only well-known performer that was there was John Rich, of Big & Rich. Lawrenceburg gospel group The Kellys was there. They started off the festivities after an hour or two of local high school marching bands regaled us with everything from America The Beautiful to the theme songs from Scooby-Doo and The Flintstones.

Photo update: I’ll have the photos I took up soon but they are nowhere near as good as what Bill Hobbs and Blake Wylie took. I was just using my wife’s digital point and shoot and wasn’t as close as I would have liked to have been.

Lawrenceburg Mayor Keith Durham was the emcee for most of the early part of the evening. John Rich took the stage sometime around 6-6:15 pm and played a couple of songs, including “Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy”, Johnny Cash’s “I Walk The Line” (the lyrics of which sometimes became: “because you’re mine, Fred walks the line”), Rocky Top and more. Some of the songs came because Fred was running a little late and I guess they needed John to stall.

Tennessee politicians were there as well to get us pumped up about Fred’s pending appearance. Van Hilleary was in attendance, though he didn’t speak on stage. Marsha Blackburn and Zach Wamp both spoke, and I think Zach was the most energetic speaker of the evening. There were a few times his voice almost rose to the level of Howard Dean’s famous speech that led to his meltdown in the 2004 presidential race…the speech that ended with that famous: “Yeeeaarrrrrrrghhh! or something like that. But Zach did good.

Former Tennessee Governor Winfield Dunn was also present, though he didn’t speak. Finally Howard Baker was brought up to speak and introduce Fred, though he too had to stall for time. Eventually he got tired of coming up with things to talk about and they showed Fred’s “The Hunt For Red November” video. Finally, the moment arrived. All eyes and heads were turned to the right of the stage as the caravan arrived. Fred Thompson was in the building….or the square at least.

Fred took the stage to wild applause and cheers. He gave a decent length speech, in which he was humble and appreciative of our support and detailed why he was running for President. I’ve already typed too much for now so I won’t go into the details. After the speech he made his way through the massive crowd and I tried to get close enough to shake his hand or get him to sign my Fred Thompson 2008 hat, but people were shoving and pushing so much to get close to him that I just didn’t do it. I did get close enough to him as he passed that I could have reached out and touched his shoulder, but I forgot to take a photo from that close. Some blogger I am!

All in all, a fun evening and even if you don’t like Fred (I DO!!!), it was something to experience. He could become President, and then I can say I was there and I was 3 feet from him.

Today is F-Day

nashvillephan — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 17:34:05 +0000

Today is F-Day and I am in Lawrenceburg awaiting the big event. Traffic here is already busier than usual and I’ve seen one limo and several RVs.

Along with Fred, there are supposed to be secret surprise guests, though at least one is not exactly secret or a surprise: Big & Rich. I have my sources that say Jon Bon Jovi will be in attendance as well, though we’ll see. Rumors of Garth Brooks and others have swirled around as well.

Most of the businesses in Lawrenceburg have “Welcome Home Fred” on their signs, or some variation thereof. There is a palpable feeling of excitement in the town, and I am getting pumped about the big moment. More tomorrow, when I hope to post some photos and will talk about the event. Fred 08!

Fred Thompson in Lawrenceburg Saturday

nashvillephan — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:46:52 +0000

I haven’t posted much lately, and may not post hardly at all anymore, since I’m in school in the evenings and working during the day and trying to do side work. I may end up focusing only in my beer blog: The Beer Snob.

But Saturday, Fred Thompson will be in his hometown of Lawrenceburg, which is also my wife’s hometown, so we’ll be down there to check out all the excitement. I hear Big & Rich will be there performing (big whoop….I don’t like them).

I’ll try to take some photos while there and share them and my thoughts here. FRED 08!

Mary Winkler out of jail/mental facility

nashvillephan — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:57:32 +0000

Mary Winkler has been released after serving 67 days for murdering her husband in cold blood. I don’t know what this world is coming to but what a travesty of justice! The whole case has been a sickening exercise in sexism, double standards, and a display of just how stupid juries can be.

http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070814/NEWS01/70814041

Now she’ll try to get custody of her kids, and she’ll try to paint Dan and Diane Winkler as monsters the way she tried to do to Matthew. At least the Winklers are alive to defend themselves!

Does your vacuum suck too? Or should I say not suck?

nashvillephan — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 17:49:17 +0000

I don’t remember what kind of vacuum cleaner we have, offhand. But it sucks, meaning it doesn’t suck anything up. This was a replacement for another one we had that sucked by not sucking, which replaced a previous one that sucked by not sucking, and so on and so on.

What is with vacuum cleaners not doing their job? It seems like each of them work pretty well at first, but within a couple of months, they hardly do their job. The one we have now hardly sucks anything up and I’ll approach a piece of dirt or something with it and the stupid spinning mechanism blows whatever it is away. I have to chase hair and dirt around the kitchen and hope it eventually gets sucked up! Sometimes the only solution is to try to sneak up on the dirt when it’s not looking in hopes it doesn’t get blown away.

I know what you’re going to suggest: “Change the filters you moron!” But I’ve done that….multiple times. I’ve done everything I can think of to help it along, short of getting down on the ground with a straw to help suck up the detritus!

What I really want is a Dyson. Apparently they don’t lose suction? (If you have one, please comment and let me know how it is). Problem is, my wife doesn’t want to spend that much money on a vacuum. Of course, if you look at how long it will last versus these cheap vacuums we buy, it probably makes more sense to buy a Dyson.

Does your vacuum suck? Let me know and let me know what you have and Dyson owners, let me know what you think about the Dyson vacuums!

Nabisco’s response to my wheat thins problem

nashvillephan — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 17:36:18 +0000

Below is the response I received after complaining about the Wheat Thins I purchased being too salty. It’s from Kim McMiller, Associate Director, Consumer Relations:

I’m sorry for your experience with WHEAT THINS Snack Crackers. The problem you described sounds like there was a possible mechanical failure at our facility. I am sending you reimbursement via first class mail, which you should receive within 7-10 business days.

We value the quality of the products that leave our facility. We give careful attention to each step of our manufacturing process. Samples from each production run are evaluated before we ship them, in an effort to prevent any unsatisfactory products from entering distribution.

Mistakes can sometimes occur on our production lines. We try to prevent this by stationing inspectors at various points along the production lines, and their duties include watching for malfunctions. Also, our quality control staff makes regular rounds throughout the production area during the day in order to ensure that production equipment is functioning properly.

I hope this information is helpful, and again, I apologize for this experience. Thank you for your loyalty and we hope that your next experience is a good one.

Wheat Thins or Salt Licks?

nashvillephan — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:58:10 +0000

So yesterday I decided to buy some good cheese and some Wheat Thins. The cheese was great…Red Dragon (mature cheddar with mustard seeds and ale), but the Wheat Thins seemed very excessively salty.

Is it just me or are they making them saltier now? They’re pretty much inedible, they’re so salty. I went to their Web site and finally found a link to contact them. After filling out info like the UPC code and the manufacturing code, I sent them this message:

Good morning. I purchased a box of your original Wheat Thins yesterday and found them exceptionally salty….so salty they’re practically inedible. I have eaten Wheat Thins for years and never found them this salty. Have you changed anything that would account for this change? I’d hate to not buy any more Wheat Thins, but this box will likely end up in the trash and I wouldn’t really want to risk another excessively salty box.

I’ll let you know how they respond, if at all. I bought Triscuits today instead, and they let the great flavor of the cheese come through.

But good grief those Wheat Thins were salty!

Another example of political correctness gone crazy

nashvillephan — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:27:40 +0000

According to breitbart.tv:

Conservative syndicated columnist and author Cal Thomas is under fire for comments deemed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations to express “Islamophobic attitudes.” Discussing the weekend’s UK terror plots, Thomas compared some Muslims to a “slow spreading cancer.”

Comparing some muslims to a slow spreading cancer is Islamaphobic? Not if it’s true! I’m sorry, but you can say “some” of a group are just about anything and be completely accurate and truthful.

Some blacks commit crimes.
Some whites are racist.
Some latinos in this country are here illegally.
Some Asians are good at math.
Some women are bad drivers.
Some Southerners are not very bright.

You cannot prove to me or anyone else that those statements above are wrong. When you say “some” of a group are anything, as long as there are two or more in that group that fit whatever you are saying, you’re speaking the truth! So where’s the problem?

The problem is with people who can’t handle the truth. Some muslims ARE like a slow spreading cancer. The ones who attack non-muslims are a disease. Don’t like it? Learn to accept the truth.