Jim Cooper's hot seat

Jim Cooper's hot seat
The long, hot summer has only just begun for members of Congress. With the House already in recess and the Senate soon to follow, the health-care brawl is shifting from Washington to town hall meetings all over the country. Jim Cooper's sweating already, as well he should.

As a Blue Dog Democrat and purported health-care expert, he's more than a little responsible for the delay in voting in Washington. That has given the insurance industry, talk radio blowhards and all the rest of the president's conservative critics what they wanted all along: Time to unleash scare tactics, drum up public opposition and beat up lawmakers.

So if health care reform collapses, Cooper gets a lot of the blame. The pressure seems to be getting to him.

Compared with 1993-94, when President Clinton tried to reform health care, there's "much less health provider hostility, and much greater citizen hostility," Cooper tells The New York Times. The volume of incoming messages "is about wearing out our 12 interns, plus my regular staff," he adds. "It's probably going to be a rocky August for everybody."

Here's what he told the Los Angeles Times: "We are getting thousands of phone calls and e-mails, many deeply angry. Some want to do nothing, others want to do everything. We can't distinguish between what is just grumbling about change and what is a precursor of an earthquake." Jeff Woods

Tree huggers to the rescue
The environmental movement's campaign to save Dollywood and other tacky stuff in Smoky Mountain tourist towns is gaining momentum. Tree huggers are upset because the coal industry is boycotting Tennessee in retaliation for Lamar Alexander's sponsorship of legislation to ban mountaintop removal mining. So to retaliate against that retaliation, they've decided to come to Tennessee to make up for the lost revenue from the missing coal miners. Are you following this?

The Sierra Club first urged its members to visit Tennessee, and now the Natural Resources Defense Council has joined the call. The NRDC cleverly turned the coal industry boycott into an un-American attack on Dolly Parton, pointing out that she herself hails from the coalfields.

"Well, that's fine," says NRDC. "A handful of miners hell-bent on turning mountains into moonscapes may not visit Tennessee, but you can. Whether you're a fan of Dolly's or someone who believes that America's mountains are worth saving, NRDC urges you to show your love by showing Tennessee the money. Visit Dollywood...hike the Great Smokey Mountains...tour Graceland...hit Nashville's Music Row... there's so much to see and do! And after you visit, be sure to mail a postcard, your receipts or even ticket stubs to Sen. Lamar Alexander thanking him for all he's doing to protect the Appalachian Mountains for future generations of Americans." Jeff Woods

The heart of the birther movement
According to a Daily Kos poll, the birther movement—meaning people who believe Barack Obama wasn't born in the U.S.—finds its greatest audience among Republicans in the South.

Overall, 11 percent of Americans believe in the conspiracy. So people like Lou Dobbs, who assert that Birth Certificate-gate is gaining traction, it's really not. But it is a popular belief among Southern Republicans. Here's how it breaks down:

—77 percent of Americans believe Obama is a citizen. 11 percent do not. 12 percent don't know.

—28 percent of Republicans believe Obama is not a citizen.

—23 percent of people in the South believe Obama is not a citizen. This, of course, is a little embarrassing, since in the Northeast, the West and the Midwest, the number is in the single digits. In other words, we're like the crazy uncle you can't introduce to your girlfriend because he'll say something awkward. Brantley Hargrove

Death to sports radio
Last week, WNFN-106.7 The Fan announced a format change. Formerly home to ESPN Radio, the new 106.7 will now play top 40. Any move that improves the odds of hearing Daughtry or Vertical Horizon is no reason to celebrate. But it's hard to think the loss of the Worldwide Leader will cause any Nashville sports fans to break their bobbleheads in anger.

ESPN's primary contribution to the airways are their personalities (ranging from the pleasant, like Scott Van Pelt, to the intolerable, like Colin Cowherd) and the way they can somehow turn 15 minutes of national news into 24 hours of coverage. All things you can find on TV or the web. Other than broadcasting MTSU games, local sports were not their forte. (That's primarily the domain of 104.5 FM and 560 AM.)

Still want your Mike & Mike fix? Then it's time to pony up for the Sirius. Caleb Hannan

Nashville, we're not cool
If you're young and single, you'd be advised to stay away from Nashville. According to the exacting science of Forbes, we're not even as cool as—gasp!—Memphis.

In its Best Cities for Singles report issued last week, Nashville didn't even crack the Top 40. And seeing as how there's only about 40 real cities in America, this isn't very good.

New York, Boston and Chicago were the top three in a study that factored in "coolness, cost of living, culture, online dating and nightlife."