Here's what happens when we let the lobbyists write our laws:

I know this is about the 4,000th diary about Wesley Clark's comments and Barack Obama's reaction. While some people see it as something that needs to be played down, I see it as an opportunity. They've tossed the ball to Obama. Now he needs to run with it.

Well, at least it's not Harold Ford Jr.

Bob Tuke, a Nashville lawyer and Obama campaign organizer in Tennessee, has apparently changed his mind after announcing late last year he would not run against Lamar Alexander.

While Tuke would be a fine senator, it looks like his chances may be pretty slim. He's not that well known, while Alexander has always been fairly popular across the state.

The upcoming terrorism trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other detainees held at Guantanamo Bay presents a huge problem not only for prosecutors, who used torture to coerce confessions, but also for the military and federal court systems that will try him.

Labor Day is meant to be more than a day of picnics and furniture sales, It's a day to honor the working men and women who have made this country one of the greatest in the world.

A couple of weeks ago, Sen. Russ Feingold stopped by here and tried to tell us why impeachment was the wrong thing to do. He took a lot of heat from people (including myself) who strenuously disagreed. Some of us were rude, others polite but firm. By my estimate, about 90 percent of the comments were pro-impeachment.

Dozens of diaries have given just about every reason to be for or against impeachment. Well, I just found a reason why I don't want to see another pro-impeachment diary.

Looks like Nancy Pelosi is right about impeachment.

I don't know if they're totally stupid or just plain cruel, but either way they all deserve to be fired.

http://tennessean.com/...

Teachers' phony attack upsets Murfreesboro students, parents
Prank during trip had 6th-graders taking cover

MURFREESBORO — Parents of students at a Murfreesboro elementary school are outraged that teachers and an assistant principal staged a phony gun attack on their children, telling them repeatedly it was not a drill, while the children cried and took shelter under tables.

And you thought it would never happen:

From The Tennessean:

At least five apparently bogus voter registration forms were submitted to the Metro Nashville election commission by a worker with ties to the Republican National Committee, and up to 150 other registrations have been called into question, The Tennessean has learned.

Election officials in Williamson County said they were probing three to five potentially fraudulent forms that might or might not be related to the Metro cases.

The five Metro forms contain the names, addresses and phone numbers of bona fide citizens, but the birth dates, Social Security numbers, signatures and some other details are wrong. Four of the citizens told The Tennessean that they did not submit the forms.

So who's behind this scheme?

Those of you who were awake during those gray hours between Friday night and Saturday morning may have seen my diary saying Bob Corker was scheduled to be in Smyrna for the Old Timers Parade and that Harold Ford was going to show up to confront him on his company's use of undocumented workers.

Well, I wasn't there. But The Tennessean was, and they reported that Corker never showed up.

Ford had hoped to personally confront Corker at the parade, but Corker did not attend. Parade officials said they thought Corker was confirmed to be there. (Corker campaign manager Ben) Mitchell said that was a misunderstanding.

(By the way, congratulations to dole4pineapple who predicted  that Corker would chicken out.)

Bob Corker's going to be in Smyrna (Rutherford County, just outside Nashville) today (Saturday) for the Old Timers Parade. Guess who's going to be there to confront him?

No, it won't be some Ford supporters holding signs. It will be The Man. That's right, Harold Ford Jr. himself will hold a press conference at Smyrna City Hall, and he will attempt to confront Corker personally on Corker's hiring of illegal immigrants. (Sorry, no link. As far as I know, this isn't published -- you heard it here first.)

If you're in Middle Tennessee, try to come out and see it. The smackdown starts at 11 a.m.

When will Ned Lamont's campaign be taken seriously?

From David Gergen, in the Hartford Courant:

It's understandable that Connecticut Democrats are wondering whether to cast a protest vote against Joe Lieberman this Tuesday. With our world in a mess, all of us would feel better letting off a howl. But before taking frustrations out on the senator, voters should ask: Is this also best for the country?

Damn, when are they going to stop framing Lamont's candidacy and lead as something that's not really supposed to happen? Gergen's saying, Sure it's OK to be pissed off at old Joe about the war. But even if you don't like anything about him, he's still your senator and a good Democrat.

The three top Republican candidates in the race to fill Bill Frist's Senate seat think Tennessee voters don't care about the Iraq war. From the AP via the Knoxville News Sentinel:

NASHVILLE - Negative public opinion about the war in Iraq won't be much of a factor in next month's Republican U.S. Senate primary, according to the three main candidates.

Former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker and former congressmen Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary say Republican primary voters in Tennessee generally support President Bush and the war in Iraq.

The candidates instead prefer to distinguish themselves on other issues, like abortion, immigration and federal spending.

Maybe they should read the polls.

A Hispanic constituent, Erick Veliz of Nashville, visiting the office of Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., was escorted out of the congressman's office at gunpoint and searched during the non-incident at the Rayburn officue building Friday. According to The Tennessean:

About 1:45 p.m. Capitol Police officers in flak jackets and pointing handguns entered the office and asked everyone to stay seated.

When they got to Veliz, he said, they asked if he was a staff member. "No," he answered. "Are you Spanish?" the Bolivian-born Veliz said the officer yelled.

The officer said he matched a description of an assailant and was taken into the hallway, where three officers held him at gunpoint while he was searched and asked to show identification.

"It felt like forever," he said of the short interrogation and search. "Everything they said, they yelled."

Of course, there were never any suspects because there never was any gunman to begin with. Ironically, Mr. Veliz was in Washington to discuss "torture and other human rights issues" with his representatives.