This is my first FULL day off since March 1st. March has been a haze, filled with lots and lots of papers, tests, and work that just won’t quit. It’s times like this that I, somehow, feel less than 100% human.

Some of us, like me, selectively shut down various systems in our consciousness when the world gives us more than we can handle. Getting those systems back up, and operational can be a task. Sometimes it takes longer than the time you have, which is why on Monday, just when you were about to start feeling human again, you feel like crap. The robot has taken over again, and no amount of over-sleeping, drinking, or doing whatever it is that numbs the pain for you is going to make you feel human again.

It’s madness, really, but it’s what we do in a society that basically rewards people for either being able to make the transition on a dime, or cleverly disguise the fact that they are, truly, ROBOTS!

Enough speechifying, on to the coffee!

State tax revenues are still down. If this keeps up, we’ll have to cut workers from the revenue department, a sure sign that the end is nigh.

Southern Beale talks about selective coverage in the media.

Tom Humphrey probes the possibilities on the Beavers backtrack.

The MED gets some love from the FEDS and may not spin off the loop clinics.

The “Coffee Party” comes to Memphis. Stop by Otherlands today around 2:30 for the fun.

Ugh. Really? Get a hobby, like building a boat in a bottle or something.

We the Corporations of the United States of America, in order to form a more profitable business climate, to bring value to our shareholders, and to ensure that the blessings of profit are bestowed upon them, do ordain and establish this contribution to our United States elected officials.

And finally…I love me some Betty White. I look forward to seeing you on SNL in May.

Get out and do something before the robot comes back and sucks your soul smooth out of your body. Or just nap it off…

Yesterday I noted a story about a County in Mississippi that cancelled their prom due to the request of a student that she be able to attend with her partner. theogeo heard a discussion on the radio about the story yesterday and has some things to say about it:

I mean, these people weren’t just homophobic, they were straight-up GAY PEOPLE ARE TAKING OVER THE COUNTRY AND THEY WANT TO RUIN EVERYTHING WE LOVE ABOUT LIFE AND WHY WON’T GOD SMITE THEM, BRYAN, WHY WON’T GOD SMITE THEM? WELL SINCE HE’S NOT SMITING THEM RIGHT NOW I’M PULLING MY KIDS OUT OF PUBLIC SCHOOL BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING BUT SLOPPY WET GAY SEX HAPPENING ALL OVER THE PUBLIC SCHOOL DESKS RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND. Just genuine paranoia and insanity. This includes Jeremy from Tennessee, who called in and wanted Bryan Fischer to tell him why gay people thought they were entitled to special rights all the time? Back in the day, Jeremy from Tennessee said, you were gay and you were fine with never telling anyone about it, and you just lived with your shame privately and everything in the world was fine. And streets were paved in peppermint, remember? And sometimes the military did fly-bys and dropped cotton candy over playgrounds, and The Beatles led prayer services on Jumbotrons all around the world!

-Snip-

Why am I writing about this? This is pointless. These people are the fringe, right? Right? They will die out soon, right? My generation and beyond, we see past this unbelievable — and unbelievably mundane — horse shit, don’t we? I mean, I know lots of us are still locked into these idiotic ape thought patterns but most of us, we’re rational, yes? We don’t affix scarlet letters to various sweaters based on who those sweaters prefer to hug. Right? All the hope I’ve ever had is caught up in the notion that we will get past this ridiculousness some day before I eke out my last breath.

WPLN talks to Gubernatorial candidate and Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey about the whole “Guns in Bars” situation and the “activist judges” that overturned it.

Tennessee Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey thinks the court that overturned last year’s so-called “guns in bars” law was wrong, and he’s ready to pass the new version which surfaced this week in the state legislature.

“If we hadn’t had a politically motivated court, overturn the bill that we passed last year, that I believe was completely constitutional – it was done based on bias against handgun carry permit holders – then we wouldn’t be in this position right now.”

Last year that law was found unconstitutionally vague. The new version would simply allow handgun permit holders to carry their weapon into any “establishment” that serves alcohol, as long as they don’t drink.

A couple of questions Lt. Governor Ramsey; Who will know who is carrying and who isn’t? Who will ensure that those who do carry actually have a permit? Who will ensure that those that carry don’t drink? Do we have to wait until someone is shot in a bar or restaurant? And finally, how is this providing jobs and economic development for the state of Tennessee?

Right…

Shelby County Commissioner Mike Carpenter thinks so.

In an article in this morning’s Commercial Appeal Carpenter takes Interim Mayor Joe Ford to task:

“The consequence to delaying the budget will be to provide political cover for those of us on the ballot on May 4,” Carpenter wrote in a letter that he distributed through his Twitter account. He argues the budget process takes weeks and the county should start right away.

Ford says he has no political motives. He says the administration can’t finish the budget until property tax revenue reports from the 2009 reappraisal year become available.

“We can’t balance it unless we know how much tax revenue’s coming in,” he said.

The dispute over the budget takes place amid fierce political competition. Carpenter is running for re-election to his County Commission seat and is also backing Sheriff Mark Luttrell, a Republican, in the county mayor’s race.

I have no way of knowing if this is, as the Mayor says, an issue of not having all the information, a consequence of having a relatively newly appointed administration in place, or, as Carpenter states, a political move.

I do know that the people of Shelby County want to know what the future holds for their County government. Addressing this issue, and doing everything possible to ensure that there is no appearance of political motives is in the best interest of the people, and all the candidates who seek the Mayor’s Office. Delay only undermines the office and the public trust in the person occupying that office. From that perspective, delay doesn’t make much sense.

The City Paper and WPLN have stories up this morning about custodians in Nashville Metro Schools fighting for their economic security.

At issue is Director of Schools Jesse Register’s proposed $633.3 million budget, which seeks to ease the district’s projected $35 million shortfall by outsourcing custodial work, currently carried out by more than 600 Metro school employees, to a private company. The move would save an estimated $5 million.

“It’s not right that they’re taking our jobs and sourcing them out,” said Lucille Moore, head custodian at Isaiah T. Creswell Middle School. “It’s not fair that we’ll have to work for $7 to $8 an hour for an outside company.”

If anyone understands the budgetary problems facing public schools it’s me. Both my parents, two aunts, and an uncle have either worked for, or are currently working in public schools. No one, especially me, wants to see money taken away from the school’s primary mission of educating our children.

At the same time, this outsourcing business is a race to the bottom. I don’t know what custodians in Nashville Metro Schools make, but I can gather that the pay they would make from the company that would be servicing the district is a good deal less than they’re making now, and the benefits are likely non-existent.

When public institutions do things like this, they are ultimately hurting themselves and the entire system around them. 600 people making less money means 600 people spending less money. In Tennessee, a state that relies heavily on a sales tax, that’s a big deal.

Further, in these tough economic times, the notion of laying off, or cutting salaries by government agencies and public institutions is a signal to the populace that these same entities have checked out of the reality. The people they serve are struggling too, and while these “cost cutting measures” may help the bottom line of the institution in the short term, the long term implications ultimately provide little benefit. It’s a circling the bowl situation that will only stop until there’s no water left.

This is not an indictment of the companies that currently do jobs that were once done by government employees. The reality is, these companies never would have existed had government not voiced a need, or want for their services. This is an indictment of government seeking short-term solutions instead of tackling the real problem.

You may not see how outsourcing custodians, a job that is not directly related to education, in the public schools effects the mission of the schools, but ask yourself this, where does it end? Today it’s the custodians, tomorrow, who knows? The Project Triangle tells us you can have it good, fast, or cheap…pick two. If we consistently pick fast and cheap over the public “good”, which includes providing a living wage for people, we will suffer the consequences.

Looking at the unemployment, and underemployment situation in the nation right now, I think it’s clear many of those consequences have come to roost.