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April 28, 2005
Racist, Anti-Semitic Church Bomber Buried in St. Elmo
J. B. Stoner, the man convicted of bombing a Birmingham church in 1958, the man suspected of planting the 1963 bomb that killed four young girls, the man who served as a defense attorney for James Earl Ray, the man who ran for Senator on a platform of "You can not have law and order and niggers, too," the man who claimed that "the Nazi treatment of the Jews was too diplomatic," that man has died.
And he was buried yesterday in St. Elmo.
Does this bother anybody else?
Posted by mesh at 05:24 PM | TrackBack
April 27, 2005
There Ain't No Ham Like the Birmingham
Lessons learned from a trip to Birmingham last night:
1. If a mid-label band (say, Iron & Wine) is playing a ramshackle dive (say, the Hi Note) and no tickets are being sold online, it's probably safe to say the natives have snatched them all, and you shouldn't bother to drive 140 miles to find out for sure.
2. The good people of Alabama do not repave their Interstate highways. I think it's against their religious convictions or something. I have never been so happy to see Georgia road construction again.
3. Birmingham is, it seems, a distribution point for beer shipping, which means imports are just as cheap as domestics.
4. On a related note, I love Kirin Ichiban.
5. If anyone in this burg has a lick of sense, they'll open a club/bar/music venue in the Southside. Bumming around B'ham, it's quickly obvious that each mildly hip neighborhood (there seem to be two or three) has a social square, with tons of packed restaurants, situated around a little music hall. Why on earth wouldn't this work perfectly on the segment of Market Street north of Main? The restaurants -- St. John's, The Meeting Place, Bellagio, heck, even Porker's -- are already there. Market Street is just begging to be mini-Williamsburg, people. I want to see Sam Beam in Chattanooga, instead of driving to central Alabama to not see him.
6. Not that this has anything to do with anything, but you should listen to the new Mountain Goats track, "This Year." Then go buy the album. There will be feasting and dancing in Jerusalem next year.
Posted by mesh at 02:42 PM | TrackBack
Iraq Was a Rocky Place, Where My Seed Could Find No Purchase
"Dear Iraqi Woman,
"From what I've seen on the news, you and your fellow women have been suppressed for some time, and now that you've been liberated it is our thinking that we should spread love and hope. There's no better way to do that than with vibrators.
"I've selected a glow-in-the-dark vibrator with variable speeds because it is not only a convenient size and shape but the glow feature may come in handy during those dark Iraqi nights. I'm also enclosing some Eros lube because it is one of the best lubes I have ever used and I think it will hold up well in the arid desert conditions. It's our hope that through these vibrators we can in some small way bridge the gap between our two countries."
(Link courtesy of Pith in the Wind)
Posted by mesh at 12:02 PM | TrackBack
SAU Dorm Fire
Our thoughts and prayers go north to Collegedale, where a fire in a Southern Adventist University women's dormatory killed a student from Chicago. It's been a mournful winter for the denomination: a plane crash killed four officials of the Georgia-Cumberland Conference in December, and now this, the night before finals.
Heretic Spire has an inside -- if somewhat embittered -- take on the tragedy, well worth reading. She raises good questions about the fire code enforcement that led to the blaze. Which leads to a broader concern: how dangerous are the historic buildings that house students in the Chattanooga region? Insights are welcomed.
Posted by mesh at 11:42 AM | TrackBack
April 25, 2005
It's Not Jefferson and Adams, But It Will Do
Call me an old softy, but I found this sort of touching. If the Bush White House is smart (rim shot!) they'll start using the old guys as a distraction:
"Good evening, I'm Tom Brokaw. An incendiary device in the city of Fallujah killed -- wait! This just in: George and Bill went water skiing today! We have -- let me confirm this -- yes, yes we have footage of Bill falling off his skis, and George circling back to fetch him!"
Posted by mesh at 02:57 PM | TrackBack
April 22, 2005
Lou Corker?
Has anyone else noticed that Lou Wamp -- stellar musician, architect, brother of Zach and all-around nice guy -- bears more than a passing resemblance to Mayor Corker?
Where do you think Lou stands on Renewable Energy Provisions?
Posted by pulseblogger at 11:47 AM | TrackBack
April 20, 2005
Ratzingerians, They Don't Know Nothin' About My Soul
Liberal and reformist Catholics are, predictably, up in arms about the selection of Pope Benedict XVI. Many of these complaints are hogwash, thinly-veiled whines that the papacy isn't making concessions to a postmodern, wishy-washy psuedo-ecumenicism. But Andrew Sullivan offers truly disquieting concerns:
This new Pope has no pastoral experience as such. He is a creature of theological discourse, a man of books and treatises and arguments. He proclaims his version of the truth as God-given and therefore unalterable and undebatable. His theology is indeed distinguished, if somewhat esoteric and at times a little odd. But his response to dialogue within the church is to silence those who disagree with him. He has no experience dealing with people en masse, no hands-on experience of the challenges of the church in the developing world, and complete contempt for dissent in the West. His views on the subordinate role of women in the Church and society, the marginalization of homosexuals (he once argued that violence against them was predictable if they kept pushing for rights), the impermissibility of any sexual act that does not involve the depositing of semen in a fertile uterus, and the inadmissability of any open discourse with other faiths reveal him as even more hardline than the previous pope. I expected continuity. I didn't expect intensification of the fundamentalism and insularity of the current hierarchy. I expect an imminent ban on all gay seminarians, celibate or otherwise. And I expect the Church's immersion in the culture wars in the West - on every imaginable issue. For American Catholics, I foresee an accelerating exodus. But that, remember, is the plan. The Ratzingerians want to empty the pews in America and start over. They will, in that sense, be successful.
All of which brings to mind an excellent essay by Pulse expatriate Ryan Davidson on the virtues and limitations of dissent. Well worth reading, especially at the moment.
Posted by mesh at 11:53 AM | TrackBack
April 19, 2005
Littlefield Names Johnson as Chief o'Staff
Two bad jokes that could be made here:
1. Johnson will take the name Chief of Staff Benedict XVI.
2. In the NBC series "Chattanooga," Johnson will be played by John Spencer.
Posted by mesh at 04:34 PM | TrackBack
A Fresh Serving of Popes Benedict
Just when we were starting to get used to the phrase "Mayor Littlefield," the College of Cardinals has tossed another new name our way: Pope Benedict XVI.
(That may be, by the way, the most strained local-angle lead ever. I'm quite proud of it.)
The election of Joseph Ratzinger is significant as a statement of church direction. The new pope is a hard-line traditionalist on most of the social issues dividing Catholics: birth control, celebacy, a male-only priesthood, the exclusivity of salvation within the Holy Mother Church. Ratzinger even opened the College of Cardinals conclave yesterday with a strong speech against "relativism" and the rise of "sects" -- traditional Catholic terminology for Protestant evangelical movements. (So Pope Benedictine XVI probably won't be endorsing 40 Days or Purpose anytime soon, in case you were hoping.) The new pope will almost certainly seek to define the church's doctrine more clearly and narrowly, setting it in fundamental opposition to increasingly permissive Western societies, especially in Europe.
I'm just a Presbyterian, without much knowledge of these papal matters, but I can't help but wonder if Ratzinger's choice of the name Benedict is a crucial statement. St. Benedict formed the Benedictine monastic order in the Sixth Century; the Benedictines consecrated themselves to "work and pray," living in close, strictly-controlled communities, and were responsible for transcribing "Sacred Scripture, the liturgy and the teachings of the Church in beautiful calligraphy that would become, in itself, a treasure." By identifying himself with Benedict, I think Ratzinger is declaring his dedication to scripture and tradition, and is affirming the virtues of chastity and monasticism, as classically defined. He is affirming the church's separation from the world.
You may resume arguing about Town and Country now.
Posted by mesh at 04:16 PM | TrackBack
Adobe buys Macromedia
Read about it here.
Now, I wonder if Flash will become as easy to use as most Adobe products?
Posted by colrus at 09:47 AM | TrackBack
April 14, 2005
Breaking the Hysteria: Little known (or seemingly cared about) facts about the Town and Country closing
1. The Market Street Bridge closing -- which will most likely affect North Shore business -- is a TDOT PROJECT and, contary to public opinion, not a project thought up by the evil power structure of this city.
2. The bridge is ROTTING, and will eventually become unsafe to drive on.
3. The owner of the Town and Country has STOCKHOLDERS, who rightfully stand to gain a profit from a Walgreen's being on the property, which is justifiably more important to them than the fact that somebody liked to eat at the restaurant. The restaurant will likely have to CLOSE because of the COMPLETELY JUSTIFIED and STATE-LED bridge renovation, and the stock holders will lose money otherwise if the owner doesn't do something like let a Walgreen's be built there.
4. The last time I looked, the owner of the restaurant COULD OPEN THE BUSINESS UP IN ANOTHER LOCATION IF HE WANTED TO, servicing longtime residents' hunger for sentimentality...uh...I mean, steak.
Posted by colrus at 10:16 AM | TrackBack
April 13, 2005
In Today's Issue of the Pulse
- A look at Earth Day issues that matter: whence the CARTA e-buses, the power of biodiesel, and why Chattanooga must save its oldest buildings
- Our comprehensive, unique, totally radical Housing Guide
- The death throes of the mayoral race
- Bob Bernhardt dissects a splendid Butterfly at the CSO
- Jack jams with Superwolf
- Max ventures into the underworld
- Ten things more painful than a runoff election
...and so much more!
Posted by mesh at 04:03 PM | TrackBack
Post-Election Liveblogging: What a Difference a Vote Makes
Thanks for joining us for yesterday's democratic festivities. It was a wild night. If you had told me 24 hours ago that a 30-percent turnout would give Ron Littlefield a win by more than 2,000 votes, I would have suggested that you see a good shrink.
But here's the catch: Littlefield's campaign staff would have told you the same thing. In fact, one staffer told me at 6 p.m. yesterday that the election would be decided by less than 100 votes. To a person, the Littlefield team was stunned by how decisively they won. (A few late arrivals to the Hughes Supply Building said they saw it coming, but these stragglers smelled more than a little of gin.)
I think the shock restrained the emotions of the night. The gloating at the Littlefield headquarters was subdued, and the griping at the Coulter party was nearly whispered. If the results had followed Sunday's Times Free Press predictions (and how is the paper going to explain that poll? It didn't just pick the wrong horse -- it was 12 points off!) then I don't think there would have been the same calm. People would have known what to do. But as fate would have it, Littlefield's team was mostly gracious in victory, and the Coulter supporters simply went home. (As one wag noted, "They probably realized, 'Oh, yeah. We still have money,' and left.") There was a low moment when a news reporter had his laptop computer stolen from the Littlefield headquarters, but that was the only significant blemish on the evening.
Now come the questions, chief among them whether Littlefield will honor his Coalition of the Disenfranchised by going on a RiverCity hunt, trying to deconstruct the system that has redesigned the downtown. He's off on a 24-hour vacation today, but not before declaring that he would restrict the "subjective" asthetic decisions of the Urban Design Studio and seek "objective" government regulations for building projects. This is barely short of a call for Stroud Watson to get the hell out of town.
There are other questions (is Ron really looking to recreate a manufacturing city? how will he work with the city leaders he's accused of rampant corruption?) but one has been immediately answered: Dan Johnson is staying on the team.
Posted by mesh at 02:40 PM | TrackBack
April 12, 2005
City Run-Off Election LiveBlogging: The latest from the Littlefield and Coulter camps
(Editor's note: This concludes our LiveBlogging for the evening. Thanks for staying up with us.)
John Bailes, Hughes Supply Building, 10:29 p.m.: John Wolfe enters the building to hugs and thanks from Littlefield supporters. He says he had little to do with the victory, though he admits to placing his anti-power structure pamphlet in some 30,000 copies of the Times Free Press over the weekend.
Michelle Michaud is outside with other staffers toasting with champagne. A high-level staffer says that had the election been closer, Littlefield supporters would be even more excited than they already are.
Aaron Mesh, Chattanooga Choo-Choo, 10:03 p.m.: "I hate to see what happened to Ann like this," says a campaign worker clearing signs off the tables. "I'm heartbroke over it."
Everyone in the Roosevelt Room seems a little bit heartbroke. Leaning against the bar, Cessna Decossimo is hesitant to speak. "She's an elegant lady. I'll say that," he begins. "You know that Kipling quote? 'When you meet victory and defeat and treat both imposters just the same.' When she was speaking, I was struck by that quote. I was struck by her integrity."
Adam Green is less sanguine. "I'm going to say that only people who lost tonight are the city of Chattanooga," he says. "We did everything right here. We did it honest. We did it fair. We can walk away with integrity. Ron Littlefield and his campaign cannot walk away with integrity.
"Ron Littlefield threw fear out on the table. People voted with their fear, just like people voted for George Bush with their fear. It's part of a growing trend in this country. People can't see past fear to the truth. It's ridiculous."
Ann Coulter stands in the center of the ballroom, taking questions from WGOW's Kevin West and condolences from supporters. But what will she do tomorrow? "Probably gonna sleep late," she says. Clean my house up, do my gardening. My daughter's getting married this spring, and I have to get ready for that. I still volunteer at a school, and I'll be there on Thursday. My life will go on."
Posted by colrus at 07:36 PM | TrackBack
Pulse LiveBloggers En Route
Our staff of LiveBloggin' election junkies are now en route to the Littlefield and Coulter camps to document tonight's events.
Check back often for posts from the field.
Posted by colrus at 06:50 PM | TrackBack
Election Liveblogging: T-Minus Four Hours
The sun is shining -- sort of -- and Chattanoogans are scurrying to their polling places. The weatherman's mild inaccuracy (the rain never even made walking unpleasant this morning) could have benefits for both candidates. Sunday's Times Free Press poll suggests that a larger turnout would benefit Coulter; Herman Wang's article showed Littlefield leading among people who voted in the March 1 election. But the scuttlebutt among Littlefield's campaign is that rich people vote in the rain, and less wealthy folks don't. So the sunshine could encourage new voters (good for Ann?) and poor voters (good for Ron?).
Whoever you're supporting, the polls are open until 8 p.m., and you better cast your ballot. If we find out that you didn't, we will hunt you down.
Pulse columnist John Bailes and I are set to begin liveblogging the election parties at 7 p.m., less than four hours from now. I'll be handling the inside scoop from the Coulter celebration at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, while John will report on the victory party at the Littlefield headquarters. We'll also have a live link to the latest election results from the fine folks at the Tennessee Division of Elections. This is your one-stop shopping center for all the Chattanooga municipal election news. And we promise we'll talk about something more interesting than the weather.
See you at 7.
Posted by mesh at 03:20 PM | TrackBack
April 11, 2005
LiveBloggin' Again: Mayoral Election '0Live! on The Pulse Blog
Looking for the most comprehensive, up-to-the-minute coverage of Chattanooga's second election night? Wondering where to find out who finally wins? Check out The Pulse Blog's live election night coverage: city editor Aaron Mesh will lead a full staff giving immediate, hour-by-hour updates on the results and the candidiates' responses. It's like watching local news -- but without pictures.
Savor every bit of political turmoil Tuesday night at www.thepulseblog.com.
Posted by pulseblogger at 06:18 PM | TrackBack
April 08, 2005
Po-Po Praise
Has anybody else noticed the quiet, understated and OUTSTANDING job Chattanooga Police Chief Steve Parks has done in the last few months? Either he is a superhero, or the previous chief was seriously flawed. Discuss.
Posted by pulseblogger at 09:08 PM | TrackBack
Quick! Somebody hang some balloons in protest!
But won't it block the...uh...er...umm...view of the river?!? This is an abomination.
Posted by pulseblogger at 04:29 PM | TrackBack
Feel the Illinoise
Chattanooga's inordinate Sufjan Stevens fan base, give a shout: the folkster's latest state album, Illinois, is scheduled for a July 5 release -- and the track listing was announced this morning. The titles are long and obscure, with the humor pitched way inside. My favorite: "A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But for Very Good Reasons." Also quite nice: "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhhh!"
Posted by mesh at 11:33 AM | TrackBack
Down and Dirty to the Wire
We're getting close to having a new mayor, which is good because this mudslinging has just about gotten embarrassing.
This race has been dirty and sleazy and yucky.
But, it's also been sneaky and icky and slimy.
All of this negative campaigning is tiresome. What if the candidates had to do some kind of hard math equation? Or a physical challenge of some sort? Or answer trivia questions? Or sing? Isn't there a fair -- and fun -- way of showing a potential mayor's worth to the voting public?
Posted by pulseblogger at 12:21 AM | TrackBack
April 07, 2005
"Get Over It, You Little Twerps"
Continuing in the non-local, literary vein: Camille Paglia's Salon interview is mostly self-aggrandizement (unsuprising) and fuddy-duddery (less expected, more disappointing). But she gets in a wicked screed at the end, one that reminds me why I still dig the old perv:
So I'm saying to the left: Stop bad-mouthing your own civilization; get over it, you little twerps. I'm saying to the religious far right: If we are defending Western civilization, as you claimed in the incursion into Iraq, then you'd better realize it's much more than Judeo-Christianity and the Bible. You'd better get real and accept that we have a Greco-Roman tradition of literature and art that started in 700 BC. And yes, some of it deals, quite frankly, with sex and the body; you must deal with it and allow students to deal with it, because that is part of the brilliant strength of our arts. I'm demanding that conservatives support the arts and that liberals stop being so snobby about art and quit celebrating art that is simply cheap sacrilege of other people's beliefs.
Posted by mesh at 03:58 PM | TrackBack
Saul of Chicago
Ian McEwan attempts an explaination of why so many of his fellow British novelists revere Saul Bellow, the great Midwestern writer who died this week.
What is it we find in him that we cannot find here, among our own? I think what we admire is the generous inclusiveness of the work - not since the 19th century has a writer been able to render a whole society, without condescension or self-conscious social anthropology. Seamlessly, Bellow can move between the poor and their mean streets, and the power elites of university and government, the privileged dreamer with the "deep-sea thought". His work is the embodiment of an American vision of plurality.
Posted by mesh at 03:22 PM | TrackBack
Seven Percent Voter Turnout, Here We Come!
So it suddenly seems like the biggest factor in Tuesday's election won't be accusations against RiverCity Co., Republican swing voters or debates about the future of downtown.
Instead, it just might be this.
Uh-oh.
Posted by mesh at 02:49 PM | TrackBack
April 06, 2005
The Price of Faith?
Can someone explain why a DVD of a church sermon would cost $35.00? Are church sermons not among the EASIEST and CHEAPEST things to produce? If you DON'T buy the DVD, are you missing out? If you DO buy it, are you extra-blessed? And why would a church body ALLOW its domain name to be the same as its pastor?
Posted by pulseblogger at 12:45 PM | TrackBack
Shoppin' the Suburbs
If you're one of those folks who think Chattanooga looks like Disney World, just wait until we get our first lifestyle center:
This is civic life in America, circa 2005, and it's spreading. The International Council of Shopping Centers estimates that 17 more lifestyle centers are set to open this year. The Memphis-based developer Poag & McEwen coined the term in the late 1980s, but most centers have been built in the last two years, typically near affluent suburbs. They are upscale outdoor shopping areas designed to look like city streets, with an emphasis on restaurants and spaces for people-watching... There's something a bit unhealthy about faux public places designed to attract rich people and make them feel comfortable. (At least the traditional mall didn't try to hide the fact that it was a shopping center.) The lifestyle center is a bizarre outgrowth of the suburban mentality: People want public space, even if making that space private is the only way to get it.
Posted by mesh at 11:13 AM | TrackBack
In Today's Issue of the Pulse
- The Lost World: Former downtowners say their city was stolen by development. They want it back -- and believe that Ron Littlefield can get it for them
- Dan Johnson accuses RiverCity of playing a shell game with city property
- The Stone Lion turns off the tap... again
- Kurt celebrates the versatile Frank Burke, savior of Finley
- We add the city's most comprehensive monthly concert listings
- Aaron reviews the melancholy maniacs of Sin City
- Bill endorses our mayoral endorsement
...and much more!
Posted by mesh at 10:50 AM | TrackBack
April 05, 2005
The Onion Does Murfreesboro
"When terrorism threatens the people of central Tennessee, Fox 11 is there first."
Posted by mesh at 04:43 PM | TrackBack
A Short Play About The Pope
Nathan Gremhold, the man who brought you "Victor Chat" -- a fan site devoted to local PBS station president and general manager Victor Hogstrom (no, seriously, he did...) -- has posted a nifty little play about the Pope on Scenic-City.com.
Posted by pulseblogger at 12:33 PM | TrackBack
They Finally Did It. They Killed My F***ing Sense of Decency
Salon looks deep inside itself, steels its courage to lead contemporary American liberalism to speak in a time of mourning, and finds the one columnist who really stinking hates the Pope. No, wait. Strike that. They found two.
Posted by mesh at 11:31 AM | TrackBack
ChattaBloggers to BlogNashville
So far, Chattanooga bloggers Michael Kelley, Bill Colrus, John Bailes, Joe Lance, Aaron Mesh and, of course, Josiah Q. Roe are headed to BlogNashville in May.
Are you?
The cap is 300. Right now it's at 151.
Posted by pulseblogger at 10:01 AM | TrackBack
In Case You've Never Experienced the Majesty of Bikerfox
This is Bikerfox:
Stunt Bicyclist, Animal Lover and self-described "All-Time Sexiest Man of the Year."
Here is a Houston Chronicle article about him.
He has a website.
And his website has pictures, pictures and more pictures.
There isn't much more to say.
You just need to check it out for yourself.
(To the best of our knowledge -- and after much deliberation -- we're guessing that he's for real.)
Posted by pulseblogger at 09:39 AM | TrackBack
April 04, 2005
Dear Pulse Writers -- We're not backing down from this "red correcting pen thing"...
Dear Pulse Writers,
Perhaps you saw an article in today's paper concerning a school in the otherwise-sensible town of Trumbull, Connecticut (home of a great mall, the 1989 Little League World Series winners and that team's star, and current NHL star, Chris Drury) and their decision to abandon red correcting pens. Evidently, some parents complained that the red ink was "stressful" to the students. I wonder if they are also stressed out by stop lights, stop signs or cherry Jolly Ranchers. Or the Chicago Bulls. Or anything else red.
This is nonsense.
We will continue to correct your submissions in red ink. We are certain that your backbones are strong enough to handle it. Besides, I got a great deal on a box of red pens.
Posted by colrus at 02:50 PM | TrackBack
Dan Johnson to Unveil Accounts of RiverCity Ethical Violations
...in half an hour, at the Hilton Inn on Chestnut Street.
If he's smart, he'll serve cookies and coffee afterwards. Nothing makes reporters more receptive than free cookies and coffee.
Posted by mesh at 09:29 AM | TrackBack
April 01, 2005
Great Moments in Chattanooga Opinion Writing
"Please, for the future of our county and our nation, please think twice before cutting stuff from schools."
...Especially those precious descriptive nouns. Dr. Register, give us our nouns back!
Posted by mesh at 01:11 PM | TrackBack
Pope John Paul II Suffers Heart Failure, Receives Last Rites
The New York Times is reporting that the Pope "suffered a series of serious blows to his already weak system on Thursday, including heart and circulatory collapse." Last rites have been administered -- the first time this has happened since a 1981 assassination attempt -- and British news wires said that the Pope remains in his apartment overlooking St. Peter's Square:
John Paul asked aides to read him the biblical passage describing the final stage of the Way of the Cross, the path that Christ took to his crucifixion, (spokesman Joaquin) Navarro-Valls said. In that stage, according to the Bible, Christ’s body was taken down from the cross, wrapped in a linen shroud and placed in his tomb... Navarro-Valls said the pope followed attentively and made the sign of the cross.
Whatever your opinions of the Catholic church, especially after the chaos in Florida this week, it seems obvious that John Paul's faithful courage and calm are the very definition of a "dignified" death. Human dignity, after all, is about more than dying when and how you want to.
Posted by mesh at 12:41 PM | TrackBack