Off Limits

He Didn’t Jump. But He Did Jump In. Metro law director Karl Dean, a short timer who on Tuesday offered his resignation effective Jan. 10, announced from the Shelby Street Bridge on the same day that he’s joining an increasingly crowded race for mayor, a contest that will be decided next August. “I think I’m ready, and I want to be mayor,” says Dean, who was a three-term public defender elected countywide before Mayor Bill Purcell recruited him to become Metro law director seven years ago. He tells the Scene that he’s undaunted by the sheer volume of candidates in the race, who include former Congressman Bob Clement, Vice Mayor Howard Gentry and Metro Council members Buck Dozier and David Briley, along with Clean Cities of Middle Tennessee founder Dave Pelton, a relative unknown. He says what distinguishes himself from most of the rest of the pack is that he doesn’t come from the legislative branch. “Some people may see that as an advantage,” he says. “I’ve been involved in government from a different perspective. I don’t think of myself as being nonpolitical…but I have been kind of out of the political game for a while.” And, oh yeah, he’s real easy on the eyes too. God Rest Ye Merry Afghan Girl.During the same week that the disgusting 2004 video of Lt. Gov. John Wilder mining his nasal cavity and dining on the catch once again made local email rounds (it’s posted here on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=Ii_UwKpR9RQ&eurl =), Gov. Phil Bredesen’s annual Christmas card began landing in mailboxes across the state. Bredesen, who took up painting some years ago and has since used images of his own canvases on the cards, this year featured a painted portrait of an Afghan girl he met at a school in Afghanistan. “Until recently, under the Taliban, education was forbidden to her,” Bredesen’s explanation on the back of the card reads. “She is now learning to read, and on the day I visited, was studying photography. While it may seem off to put a portrait of a young Muslim woman on a Christmas card, this season reminds us that He loves His children most of all. May the miracle of Christmas help bring peace and hope to this young woman and her wounded land.” Of course, the card provoked anything but peace among the nuttiest of local bloggers, one of whom suggested that the governor was trying “to shake [things] up politically.” Nice Graphics Trick. As if it weren’t bad enough that our daily newspaper has farmed out its editorial page so that it’s more like an anything-goes blog than an authoritative place for cerebral commentary, The Tennessean’s recent handling of a story about the dwindling reading habits of the American public was a gross illustration of self-interested spin. At issue is a Sunday graphic accompanying the news of a government study showing the average consumer will spend 1,555 hours next year watching TV vs. only 175 hours reading daily newspapers—among other sobering statistics (not all of which the reader learned from the abbreviated story). The graphic lumped the newspaper reading category with the time people will spend reading books and magazines, making it appear that people spend more time reading dailies than they actually do. They should have thrown in the video gaming category too—it would have been even less honest.