Tennessee Republicans get more unstable by the day
by Jeff Woods
Like Jack Nicholson in The Shining, state legislators grow more demented with every day of their long isolation at the Capitol. On the continuum of far-right weirdness, they're now somewhere close to a doomsday cult. Reporters have started holding out hope for mass suicide.
Even by the legislature's standards, it's strange. Last week, the House voted to give state sanction to the diplomas of a freaky subset of home schoolers who are basically sitting around waiting for the End of Days, but unfortunately need jobs in the meantime. They hold the godless government in contempt and refuse to disclose what they're supposedly learning in their home schools, but they want their diplomas to count on government job applications.
"That's great," snorted one wiseacre who works for the legislature. "Maybe I should stand out here and write up diplomas to my School of Hard Knocks. They'd be worth just as much."
This is the kind of stuff that's making Republicans the exclusive party of married white fundamentalist Christians and an endangered species outside the South. Here, though, it's the heyday of the hard-core culture warriors.
Rep. Tony "Capt. Apocalypse" Shipley invokes God's wrath against gays, House GOP caucus chair Glen Casada is afraid a dictator-president will confiscate our guns, and Rep. Frank Niceley claims arsenic is good for you. As the state budget is debated over the next few weeks, they'll endear themselves further to the cranky teabag crowd by calling for rejecting the federal stimulus money and demanding unnecessarily deep cuts in services.
But it's too easy to place all the blame with Republicans. Democrats are guilty of aiding and abetting. On guns and abortion, there's been bipartisanship. Democrats do a quick cost-benefit analysis, shrug and cave. They figure it's not worth the trouble in their next election campaigns. They don't talk much about the GOP's extremist agenda. It's been weeks since they bothered to hold a press conference.
The state's most popular Democrat, Gov. Phil Bredesen, could speak out, but he won't. He's under the naive impression that if he lays off those nutty legislators, they will repay him by accepting his budget as-is. He might as well try to befriend a pack of rabid dogs.
Most political professionals would have advised Republicans, as the state's new majority party, not to turn off voters by overreaching. Instead, they've thrown caution to the wind. They're acting like a holier-than-thou gang of over-the-top ideologues. (Apparently, they can't help themselves; they really are crazy.)
But no worries. Democrats are letting them get away with it.
Ramsey Courts Christian Right
The latest evidence that Ron Ramsey will do anything to win the Republican gubernatorial primary: He's appointing Dr. Kenneth Hill, the owner of a wacky Christian radio station, to the Tennessee Regulatory Authority. What does "Dr." Hill know about regulating the telecommunications and utility industries? Not much, but he does give money to the election campaigns of far-right candidates.
The man who earned his doctorate in religious education from someplace named the Andersonville Baptist Seminary previously served as chairman of the now-closed State of Franklin PAC, which was funded by supreme religious nutcase John Gregory, founder of King Pharmaceuticals of Bristol and benefactor to all the leaders of the state's black helicopter crowd.
Hill also is the father of state Rep. Matthew Hill, R-Jonesboro, who once plastered an ultrasound picture of his fetus-baby on a campaign flyer. On his father's station, he hosts The Matthew Hill Show, plus another program called Bible Buddies. He's also one of several state legislators who think Barack Obama is really a foreigner pretending to be an American.
Anti-crack bill faces legal hurdle
The state Attorney General's office has issued an opinion questioning the constitutionality of the "saggy pants bill." The AG points out that several cities in other states have enacted similar bills, but Tennessee would become the first state to do it. For starters, the opinion says, it seems a little unfair to expect anyone to understand what the bill means when it outlaws wearing pants below the waistline.
Where exactly is your waistline? It's been years since many people have seen theirs. "The proposed legislation is arguably unconstitutionally vague," the AG notes, "because it does not set forth a standard for its violation that may be readily understood."
The potential problems faced by plumbers were omitted from the opinion, leaving them uncertain as to their legal status.
Email jwoods@nashvillescene.com, or call 615-844-9445.
Comments (4)
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First, the state legislature has always engaged in the trivial. It is not a right-wing or left-wing conspiracy. Second, the Category 4 home schoolers, who you describe as "freaky" are really not. The diplomas awarded by these Tennessee schools have been accepted by state government for thirty years until a year ago, when a department of education employee claimed they were invalid. Homeschool students score higher on nationally normed tests, but because they don't use the state curriculum, some legislators feel the diplomas are worthless. Right-wing conspiracy? The bill that made the diplomas valid again passed with 2/3rds of the House voting for it and all of the Senate.
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The fact that Mr. Woods is a professional journalist turns the term into an oxymoron. He obviously lacks any sort of factual understanding of any of the topics he touched upon, preferring to dismiss non-Dems as rabid ideologues and making the most absurd claims about the homeschool diploma bill, stimulus money, state budgeting, and various legislators. The homeschool bill, for example, is not limited to a "wacky subset" of homeschoolers, but instead guarantees that homeschoolers who HAVE MET STATE REQUIREMENTS, including mandatory testing and graduation credits - and whose diplomas are already accepted by non-state agencies such as prestigious universities, by the way - have those same diplomas recognized by state agencies. Or is Mr. Woods under the impression that Ivy League colleges accept any crackerjack paperwork and we must make sure that Tennessee cosmetology schools maintain more academic integrity? This article belongs in a tabloid magazine, and I hope the Scene staff will attempt to ensure a minimum of factual reporting from it's journalists, instead of indulging sensational sarcasm at the expense of political dissidents. Mr. Woods, perhaps if you bothered to educate yourself about the subjects and people of which you write, you would learn that "rabid ideologues" are those who dismiss out-of-hand anything they do not personally endorse. Perhaps you'd better look in the mirror next time you're looking for more fodder in that topic.
This article really does not even merit my time to comment; however, I can not leave without saying how crass and ignorant the author makes himself sound. One can appreciate thoughtful positions on either side of the fence, but this is just junk. Worst piece I have read in a very, very long time. Is this the best the Scene has to offer its readers?
List of unaccredited institutions of higher learning
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unaccredited_institutions_of_higher_learning#A
"This is a list of colleges, seminaries, and universities which do not have educational accreditation.
Degrees or other qualifications from unaccredited institutions may not be accepted by civil service or other employers. Some unaccredited institutions have formal legal authorization to enroll students or issue degrees, but in some jurisdictions (notably the United States) legal authorization to operate is not the same as educational accreditation. See Unaccredited institutions of higher learning for discussion of the various reasons why institutions may operate without accreditation
.
Institutions that appear on this list are those that grant post-secondary academic degrees but are listed as unaccredited by a reliable source. Some of these institutions are no longer in operation. Several unaccredited universities have names that are similar to those of accredited institutions or that falsely imply that it is a public university."
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Andersonville Baptist Seminary
http://www.andersonvilleseminary.com/recognition.html
"Recognition
Andersonville Theological Seminary was founded in 1981. For almost 30 years, we have been an outstanding distance learning school. Today, we have over 3,000 students currently enrolled and over 30,000 graduates worldwide. Andersonville Theological Seminary has always stood on its reputation as the world’s best Bible school and is highly recognized by other credible schools of higher learning.
Andersonville Theological Seminary is currently pursuing an affiliation status with an agency that is recognized by the United States Department of Education.
Andersonville Theological Seminary is accredited by Transworld Accrediting Commission."
