My wife and I were talking the other night, when something occurred to me.

My wife is a social worker (and no that wasn’t what occurred to me.) When she states how much she earns, she states it in terms of “per hour.” I work in a business setting. When I state how much I earn, I state it in terms of “per year.” Why do we not use the same terms? We are discussing the same thing. It reminded me of trying to compare kilometers and miles – you need to do some math to compare the two measurements.

I have a factory friend that earns $13.50 an hour, which is pretty good money in Clarksville for a guy with only a high school diploma. Why doesn’t he say he earns $26,000 a year? If you were the factory worker, how would you answer the question? Which sounds better, $13.50 an hour or $26,000 a year? Let’s put these numbers in perspective and re-ask the question. Which sounds better, $13.50 an hour, almost double the minimum wage, or $26,000 just above the poverty level. I would propose that the working class factory worker would say that the $13.50 sounds more successful.   I do not know many people that get paid by the hour, that discuss earnings by the year.

I have a college buddy who earns $75,000 a year at a local business. Why didn’t he say $36.00 an hour? Which sounds better $36.00 an hour or $75,000 a year? I would propose that the professional class business person would suggest that the $75,000 a year sounds better. If they thought the $36 an hour sound better, I would assume that would be how they expressed their income level.  Again, I do not know many salaried employees, that discuss their earnings in relation to per hour.

Why does society use different personal earnings measurements between classes? The common answer is that the factory worker is punching a clock, doing his assigned task for his assigned time. While the business person is paid to do a job, no matter if it requires 40 hours a week of 55 hours a week. This would seem a valid point.

But wouldn’t the salaried worker working 55 hours a week, need to know if he could make the same amount of money, by working less hours for for a higher hourly wage? Wouldn’t the factory worker want to be able to compare their pay to those in factory management?

Look at even higher classes like big corporate executives.  They are not salaried nor do they get paid per hour.  The lion’s share of their earning comes from bonuses and stock options, tied to the companies performance – not task and time worked.

Why have we, as a society, agreed to use different measurements terms when relating to each other?

The result is different classes become inhibited, if only verbally, from perceiving the lines of class. The comparison of earnings becomes non-intuitive. Who earns more someone making $22.75 a hour 52 weeks a year or someone making $44,875 a year or someone with a stock option to buy 1000 shares of company stock for $10 before September 30th? I bet you need a calculator.

I am not saying that classism would go away if we all used the same measurement of earnings. That is absurd. The point I am trying to make, is that this way of talking promotes classism.  The framework of our speech masks the boundaries of classes, and to some extent the effects of classism.

On the Monday of this last July 4th weekend, I was driving back from visiting my brothers family. I passed the time listening to the satellite radio, particularly both Left and Right political talk channels.

The talk shows on the liberal channels were very similar to the talk shows on the conservative channels. They were talking about the same topics, they had the same sponsors, the same sound bytes, the same timed commercial breaks, the same news at the top and bottom of the hour…for the entire seven hours. I couldn’t take it that long, but I did listen long enough to make some observations.

The liberal channel was making the following complainants:

• Obama isn’t doing anything on gun control
• Obama isn’t advancing gay rights enough
• Obama is putting more troops in Afghanistan
• Democrats in Congress aren’t adequately addressing health care
• Sotomayor is too moderate

The conservative channel was making the following complaints:

• Obama is going to take away your guns
• Obama expanded gay rights for federal employees
• Obama is pulling troops out of Iraq
• Democrats in Congress are pushing health care reform
• Sotomayor is a liberal activist judge

If you knew absolutely nothing about American politics, and listened to these shows, the listener would have to conclude that that Obama, Democrats in Congress, and Sotomayor are hopeless moderates that can satisfy no one; not by their actions and not by their inactions.

Pundits that deliver the news via a “commentary” format usually hold extreme views (the most successful pundits anyway). Yet, polls show that 80% of Americans agree 80% of the time (actually heard that on a left wing radio program). I have coined this political tactic ‘rubberbanding,’ a term used in racing games. They preach their extreme views to those leaning to right/left, in a effort to pull the listener away from the center.

At anytime of the day, I guarantee you can turn on the radio, scan a bit, and find a political pundit talking for hours on end; 4 hours a day, 20 hours week, with listeners numbering in the millions….and there are dozens of radio pundits. Joseph Goebbels did this. So did Big Brother in George Orwell’s 1984. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury repeats the same idea using television and drugs as the medium for of social political control.

Think “incrementalism”….on meth. As Rage Against the Machine says “weapon of sound above ground.”

I believe they do us a great disservice by keeping us divided. They talk about where we differ. And where we agree, they spin the issues and try to make us more divided.

Turn it off.

When we arrived we were given a tour of the stage and was able to walk on it.  It is at an angle, so it will be something to get use to when it is time to do our choreography. The reason for the design is to let the audience get a wider view.   The set looks awesome and it is a beautiful theatre.

After our tour, we all sat in our chairs and started with our morning group vocal warm up.  It was then that we were told not to sing in the morning before we did our warm up.  To let our voices rest.  Also, not to talk in the evening after our vocals have been used. (So thankful for texting) It was a pleasant surprise to me how well we sounded as a group!  We sound awesome. It is going to be a great show!

Our practice lasted until noon and then we went to have lunch at Vinny’s restaurant. It was a great time of fellowship with each other.  I can see all of us getting close and wanting nothing but the best for the other.  Personally, Andrea Griffith and I have been hanging together. She has been in the military for 14 months and a proud mother of a gifted daughter who will be graduating high school at the age of 16!  She also has a son, I believe.  Still learning about each other.  I have memorized everyone’s names to faces.  That is something that always seem to be a challenge for me.  Not so in this competition.

After lunch, it was time for the interviews for the 6 contestants that were chosen to go first.  I was one of them. My time didn’t come till the end.  They didn’t want to keep moving the camera up and down, so they did two short people first and then when the next 2 were tall, they switched me to be last so they wouldn’t have to readjust.  I totally understand.  I was pretty nervous with the interview.  But all in all, when they edit it, it will look and sound good.

Once that was done, it was time for the accapella songs of the 6.  I went ahead and sang one of my favorite songs by Martina McBride.

During this time, the vocal coach wanted to hear what we sounded like without music and to get our range.  He would give us tips that we needed to use to become better.  With my audition he said that I was very smart with my vocals.  Everyone that has heard me knows I have this thing I do at the end of my notes.  I don’t know what you would call it. He said he loved that and when he would be wanting to hear it, it was like a teaser and I would give it to him when he would start thinking about it.  He also said that hearing my voice I have no pitch problems, that the songs I picked to sing are the right choice. That I was smart in my song selection.  The only thing he heard was when I hit the high note. He didn’t want me to look like I was straining. So I need to watch myself and practice dropping my jaw.  Not bad.  I was a nervous wreck wondering what he was going to say.  If it was going to be a lot of bad things wrong.

While we were waiting for everyone to get finished with their interview and song, it was a time to get off by yourself and listen to music or gather around each other and play the guitar and hear talent!  It was awesome.  Like I said earlier, everyone is talented in their own way and to be honest, we are all winners here.  What did the vocal coach say? We could very well be the Daughtrey’s of the world. (Not in those exact words) Remember him from American Idol? He didn’t win but he is living his dream in a big way now!

It was a very productive day and I can’t wait for this morning to start!  The other 6 will be doing their interviews and song, while we read, practice or whatever is in store for us.  This is one of the BEST things that has ever happened to me and like my Momma said in a text to me this morning quoting Richard Bach:

“No matter how qualified or deserving we are, we will never reach a better life until we can imagine it for ourselves and allow ourselves to have it.”

Remember, voting is done at www.oprisingstar.com and you click on VOTE starting November 15th at 8pm eastern for two hours.  You can vote more than once but remember, you have to go through the whole process to vote each time. Thank you for believing in me and my dream! I do!!

America has long had a fascination with Heroes: cowboys wearing a ten gallon hat and riding a white stallion, a firefighter rescuing someone from a building engulfed in flames, the Sheriff putting dangerous criminals behind bars, the athlete, the underdog overcoming impossible odds, and of course the special kind of person that volunteers to serve our great Country.

Becoming a Soldier is a choice that involves sacrifices. The sacrifice of knowing you may be required to leave your family, loved ones, and the comforts of home on a moments notice. The sacrifice of knowing that the time spent away from your loved one’s can never be reclaimed. The sacrifice of knowing that there is always the possibility that you may not make it back. The choice to become a soldier is never an easy one.

Welcoming our Soldiers home

Soldiers do not enlist because they want to go out and kill, they do so for a myriad of reasons, some do so for a paycheck, some for assistance with college tuition, some because they lack of other viable choices. Every Soldier has their own individual reasons for enlisting, but for most at the root of their decision to enlist, stems a deep and abiding love for their country, and our freedoms. For these Soldiers patriotism isn’t an abstract concept, it is an essential part of their being.

When Soldier swears their oath, they mean every word of it:

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

They also recognize that their duty to their oath does not end, just because they have left the service of their nation.

Clarksville Online’s Tim Cash was one of those soldiers….

Tim Cash

Due to circumstances beyond our control neither my family or myself could provide the opportunity for me to attend college right out of high school. The Army offered me a chance to serve, and in exchange they would provide me with the assistance to allow me to attend college. Which I did eventually did, and I am a mere twelve credits from earning my bachelor’s degree.

A sense of duty to our Nation, and my Family turned what was to be a three year tour, into a twenty year career. This was not something I had planned on, but my path in life became clear to my during my fledgling years of service. I, like many who served before me, and who still today, did not make the career choice based upon money.

For most soldiers it is the knowledge that we were (and are) protecting our Families and way of life here in the United States, that drives us to make that difficult choice. We would gladly lay down our lives fighting in a far away land, rather than allowing our enemies bring their fights to our shores. Many of our soldiers have ended up paying that ultimate price, and should be revered by all Americans for the sacrifice they and their families made for us.

Soldiers are not political, they march off to war because they believe that they are doing so in service of a just cause. Our Soldiers service gives us the ability to sleep in peace at night; to wake up in the morning; and to allow us enjoy the freedoms promised under our Constitution, without fear of retribution.

As we honor our Veterans today, please take a moment to say a prayer for all those who have served, are serving, or will soon serve their nation on this hallowed day!

Photo Gallery

Images from the 2009 Veterans Day Parade, that was held in Clarksville, TN

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Transitioning from the workplace to staying at home with a child can sometimes be stressful and frustrating. You aren’t alone in your struggle if you are learning how to manage your days and fill your hours productively at home.  Here is a letter from a young mom who had lots of questions about her new role as full-time stay at home mom.

I am a new sahm  (Stay At Home Mom) after seven years of teaching. I want to continue being at home. I want for my home to be clean and comfortable, to have an idea of what I am doing each day, to build relationships with God, my husband, my new baby,and others, and to take care of myself. I never knew that being a sahm would be so overwhelming. Before I quit teaching I used to get up a certain time of day, know what I was doing that day , had a time period to complete my tasks, was around other adults, enjoyed coming home to relax and went to bed around the same time. Now I feel overwhelmed. I do not know what expectations I should have for myself every day. What things should I be cleaning daily? What things should I only do occasionally? During the time that I am not cleaning what should I be doing? I have a 5 month old daughter. I do not want to be so devoted to cleaning my house that I miss time with her. I also need time with other adults. Any suggestions?

Transitioning from workplace to sahm is challenging. Just like moving from one job to another in the regular workplace is challenging. New jobs always bring new challenges. And I think that is how you could look at the situation, as moving from one job to another job. It’s easy to think of your stay at home situation as less than a job. But if you will look at it as your new vocation, you might be able to manage better.

Try managing your days like you would if you were on a new job. Set a getting up time that suits you and then get up at that time every day. Develop what I call a Morning Routine where you brush your hair, put on your clothes, wash your face or shower and prepare for the day. You can arrange your getting up times and meal times around your daughter’s schedule if you need to. If you schedule your day like you did when you were working outside the home, you might feel more in control and feel like you were accomplishing more, as well as spending as much time as you like with your baby.

Now that you are your own boss, you will have to discipline yourself and create the rules that you work by. Using your own list of what you want to accomplish in a day and the needs of your family, you can create a more structured day for yourself. And it might help you to do so since you are coming from a structured kind of day. The biggest difference is that now you are having to manage yourself and keep yourself motivated to do a good job at home.

Try making a list of things that absolutely, positively must be done every day. Your list might look something like this:

• Devotional and Meditation Time
• Wash at least 2 loads of laundry
• All dishes clean and put away
• Living room picked up by 4 pm
• Supper started by 4:30 pm

See how unstructured that list is? You can make a schedule like this work for you at home and not fee llike you are chained to it. Your list can grow as you get a better handle on managing your day. At first just add to your list those things that you feel must be done to bring some order to your home. Take into consideration what things your husband might like you to have done every day, like dinner! Then as you get more comfortable with your new schedule, add other jobs or chores that you would like to get done in the house.
If you wouldn’t normally stress over doing things in your home when you were working as a teacher, like washing windows for example, don’t stress over them now. If you find that your windows need washing and you can fit it into your schedule, then do it. Treat those extra chores and household work like you did when you were teaching. Fit them in when you can.

If it helps you to give yourself a certain time period to complete your cleaning tasks, if you work better like that, then try setting a timer when you begin your work. Give yourself, for instance, 15 minutes to clean the bathroom, 20 minutes to wash the dishes. Or simply require yourself to have your household chores done by a certain time each day.

When you aren’t cleaning, you can choose what to do with your time. Many sahms take up hobbies or ministry work. Some sahms start up a home-business and others simply rest and enjoy the peace because when baby #2 arrives, things pep up considerably!

It seemed so much colder there than here in the winter, even though we were only 20 miles further to the north than we are now. And I do miss the friends we made while we were there. Surprisingly, the only friends we made were Amish people. They seemed to think we fit right in the community. I don’t really know why. We don’t dress like them, talk like them or think like them. That leaves me to think that we connected on a spiritual level, something deeper than clothing or hair; a faith connection that centered around Jesus Christ that not one of us really understood or could account for, but knew that it was there.

My friend Martha who lives there, near our old farm and who is Amish, called me the other day. Most people don’t realize that many Amish do have phones and electricity.  Most people in Clarksville don’t realize that the group of folks in and around Guthrie are not Mennonite but Amish.  The Amish here don’t drive automobiles, but they go everywhere in their tractors. Martha was checking to see if we wanted a kitten, and just to chat and catch up.

I had seen her this past summer when the children and I and some friends stopped by her house unexpectedly. We were going to ask her if we could use her picnic table to have our lunch. She offered her dining room table instead and we got to talk to her and her children while having lunch. She and her daughters were finishing up a big batch of home-canned pears.

She wants us to come back and visit some more. Once, Martha confided to me that she knew that if it weren’t for the restrictions of her church, our families would be inseparable. We definitely are very akin to each other in likes and dislikes, in interests and temperament. But their church doesn’t allow for fraternizing with “Strangers”. Those who are not part of the Amish tradition are tolerated, acknowledged, provided for when necessary, but not brought into the fold as friends or visited in their own homes. Martha is taking a small chance of rebuff when she calls me and invites me over.

We both like Tasha Tudor, roses, herbs, flowers in general, tea, messy overflowing gardens, canning and baking bread. That’s mostly what we talk about, that and children. We both sew out of necessity not out of a love for it. And we both have a very soft spot for anything small and fuzzy, like kittens or puppies, really any small animal.

I’m hoping to get up there and visit with Martha in a few days. I will call her today perhaps and set a time to come visit all day long.

We’ll take some books and favorite toys for the children to share. She has only one at home now during the day. I’ll take some little gifts from my kitchen, special breads, a jar of jam and some pickles. And I’ve ordered her some Tasha Tudor Tea. She will have a hot pot of tea brewed, something delicious baked. We’ll look at seed catalogs, books and talk about all those things that interest us.  Friendship bridges all kinds of gulfs.

That’s why Superman—and all super heroes—are so fascinating to children. The urge to fly is somehow innate. We see birds do it. We see butterflies do it. We see tiny insects do it. Why can’t we?

In Bill’s case, he decided that if Superman could do it, so could he. Confiscating a towel to use as a cape, he sneaked over to a neighbor’s farm and climbed up into the barn. Climbing the ladder into the loft was a cinch as was opening the doors to the outside.

That’s when things became a bit complicated.

Bill didn’t think of Superman as his only hero; he also wanted to be Lash Larue, Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy all rolled into one. He had seen these guys do fantastic horse riding tricks like jumping from the ground onto the back of the horse and into the saddle. He figured that the next step would be to jump from the hayloft, fly like Superman, and land on the back of the horse to ride off into the sunset.

It just so happened that no horse appeared to be available at that moment.

Enter an unsuspecting goat.

“Ah, ha!” thought little Bill. “A steed for my adventures!”

He took a running jump, flew out of the barn and landed on the back of the goat.

Extremely bad news. The goat did not survive the experience.

Panic! What was Bill to do now?

He knew he couldn’t pay for the goat. He knew his parents would exact severe consequences for his behavior. He knew he had to do something quick!

First, he cried because Bill has always been an animal lover. The thought that he had killed the goat grieved him sorely.

When he regained control of his emotions, he realized that there was a way out.

The highway beckoned.

Only six years old and small for his age, Bill, huffing and puffing, dragged the poor goat out to the highway to place it as if it had been run over.

He found a tree branch that had fallen to the ground and used it to erase his tracks and those of the goat.

Casting a burden on his conscience forever, he told his mother that a truck had run over the farmer’s goat—and vowed silently never to play Superman again.

Bill was not unlike most children. A great imagination is an important part of childhood. Understanding that your actions involve consequences comes with experience.

Children do not always think ahead. They live in the moment. If it seems like a good idea at the time, they are likely to try it.

That’s why they have parents and teachers and other adults in their lives. Children need to be taught that every action has a consequence. Good decisions result in happiness and well-being; bad decisions result in some pain.

Sadly, many of the adults in our society have not learned these lessons when they were children. It’s obvious every day that some people don’t realize the consequences of their behavior.

Just remember: before you decide to take a course of action, you need to think of whether or not your pretending to be Superman is going to kill the goat! The goat you save may be you.

Tim Cash

For the record I am conservative in my thinking but try hard to keep an open mind and give all an opportunity to voice their opinions. Many of my friends have differing views than mine when it comes to politics, but very few who disagree that much of what our Country was founded on is disintegrating before our very eyes. In the end, whether of liberal beliefs or conservative – we are ALL AMERICANS.

This did not just start yesterday, there has been an eroding of America for many years now. Those of you who are 30 or older need only look back to your years as a child, when we all said the Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom. Many of our children have never pledged allegiance to our Flag:

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Many of our children are not learning values in the classroom or at home – the days of going to the principle’s office for a smack on the rear are gone and ‘just wait till your father gets home’ means nothing. For me, either of those options merely needed to be mentioned to keep me on the straight and narrow growing up. There is almost a twisted sense that each person is owed something from those who have been successful in life instead of getting up off the couch and finding a job. What’s that you say? There are no jobs out there? Unemployment is at 9 percent? HOGWASH!

The problem with Americans is that we feel that the jobs that are available are beneath us. We are quick to complain about the immigrants who are moving into our country – guess what folks – they are here because there is WORK. Work, that is right, I said it! They are doing the manual labor or menial jobs that many of us would not even consider as a viable option. They are here because of the promise for a better life! One free from persecution where the sky is the limit. I hate to say it, but these same immigrants place more value of being in America than many of those who were born in America.

Whoa is me! Whoa is me! Folks we have not seen bad. Bad is the Great Depression. Bad is persecution of women and children living under Taliban law years ago in Afghanistan. Bad is being of Jewish decent in Germany during Hilter’s brutal reign. Bad is being one of the victims of 9/11. Bad is the Widow and Children of one of our Fallen Heroes. Need I say more?

We have many issues in our Country in this day and age. No one person can be blamed for the financial crisis that hit us. We probably will never know how many or even who was to blame as the powerful in our country seem to protect their own – from corporate America to our elected leaders. You only need to look at the billions of YOUR tax dollars that have been given to numerous corporations that were deemed ‘Too Big To Fail’ to realize this. There have not been, nor will there be any accountability – let alone any repayment (well, unless you consider repayment by you, me and our children as repayment).

Only today I received an email from a lady who wanted to let me know that I should refrain from supporting a group of mothers who cared about their children in the Armed Forces. She was polite in her dissent, but wanted to state her dissatisfaction with me publicly supporting them as this was viewed as a group that was partisan. Partisan? REALLY? Mothers fearing for their children’s safe return is now partisan? COME ON!

This last week saw closed door meetings with political leaders and the attack on a news organization by our very own administration. All the while, our Generals charged with carrying out combat operations in Afghanistan are desperately awaiting a decision from our government. I got it that there are those of you who disagree with our presence in Afghanistan but this is a battle we must fight there and that we must win. If we do not, we will only see more tragedy on our own soil.

If you really want to participate in the direction of this great country, I strongly suggest you do so by exercising the rights that our founding fathers gave us (and no I am not talking about the right to bear arms):

• The right of free speech
• The right to vote

These two PEACEFUL means granted to all Americans by our Founding Fathers are so very powerful. They have been there since day one but sadly many choose not to exercise either right. Rather, the remain silent in terms of speech and vote. Only after the fact to they choose to cry foul – knowing all along that they were simply too busy or afraid to speak out or stand in line at the polls to cast their ballot. Those who fill the halls of our local, state and federal capital buildings are there because those who believed they could make a difference went to the polling stations and voted them in.

It is time for everyday Americans to wake up, to give notice of their displeasure or support of the direction that our elected leaders are taking this Great Country. Being an elected leader means that you are prone to having people who both support you and oppose you – it comes with the job! At no time should they be calling for the banishment of free speech or free press.

I will leave you with the words of The Star Spangled Banner which was composed by Francis Scott Key in 1814:

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

The first is for our community economic preparedness by the Department of Economic and Community Development, as a certified member of the Three-Star Program. This initiative, a Five-Year Asset-Based Strategic Plan, recognizes the importance of successful community development and its impact on sustaining economic growth. Montgomery County is certified as a Benchmark Level III recipient. This designation brings grant opportunities as well as reductions in the local match for the Fast Track Grants.

Two others awards received recently were from the Greater Nashville Regional Council. The first was an Economic Development Award for the County’s commitment and efforts that helped bring Hemlock Semiconductor, LLC to the County’s mega-site. This project will have significant economic impact and the County worked hard with many entities to make this project come to fruition. Second is a Public Facilities award for the creation of Civic Hall in Veterans’ Plaza. This multipurpose event space was much needed for Montgomery County and serves as a source of revenue for the County.

We are very proud of these recent accomplishments and continue to work hard for the citizens of Montgomery County!

Former District 18 Commissioner Mark Kelly

For those who may not already know, at the September County Commission meeting, commissioners appointed Glen Demorest to fill the District 18 seat. The seat was vacated by Mark Kelly, who is moving out of the district.

Demorest is a Principal Mission Planning Support Engineer at Fort Campbell and will serve in the District 18 seat until the election in August when he must run for reelection.

You may reach him at 931-647-3784 or by email at .

Please join me in welcoming Commissioner Demorest to the Commission and thank you for your interest in staying updated on the news of Montgomery County Government.

Sincerely,
Carolyn Bowers
County Mayor

About Carolyn Bowers

Montgomery County's Mayor Carolyn Bowers

Prior to becoming Mayor of Montgomery County, Mayor Bowers served two terms as County Trustee. As Trustee, she earned twenty million dollars through prudent investment of idle county funds. Mayor Bowers has utilized integrated accounting for all County departments by implementation of the MUNIS® system. MUNIS® integrates the mass of county accounting data making it possible to continuously monitor the budget and maximize efficiency for all users.

TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely

As heavy rains fall on Tennessee, TDOT’s bridge inspectors await notifications from an automated program called “Bridge Watch.” Flooding can undermine the structural integrity of certain bridges in the state, so TDOT utilizes this program to alert the department of any potential problems with bridges due to heavy rains.

The most common cause of bridge failure is the undermining of a bridge structure because of scour. Scour is the erosion of a stream or river bed due to excessive stream flow. TDOT has classified 897 bridges in Tennessee as scour-critical, which means bridges could experience a catastrophic failure or become structurally unstable as a result of a destructive flood event.

TDOT’s “Bridge Watch” program monitors weather events through the National Weather Service and rates them based on the possible severity of flooding that could result from a rain event. The program then continually monitors weather mapping, weather radar, and stream gauges from the internet, and compares the information to a map of designated bridges in the state. It then predicts which bridges might be affected by potential flooding.

A bridge inspector performs an inspection of a steel girder as part of the visual inspection study.

State bridge inspectors are notified via text message, e-mail, and fax to check structures that are experiencing or could experience high water conditions. TDOT bridge inspectors visit these structures to check the bridges for any added substructure exposure (scour), continued structural stability and alignment, and streambed movement. Photos are occasionally taken of the conditions that are present at the time of the alert.

The “Bridge Watch” program is then updated to show that the bridge was inspected and the photos of the structure are attached to maintain a record of the event for future use.

Once the rains have passed, a follow up inspection is completed to ensure no permanent damage was done to the substructure. If there is evidence of bank or sediment removal from under the bridge, measurements are taken of the streambed and compared to notes taken from previous stream profiles to see how much material was lost. If any damage is found immediate action is taken to repair the areas that are damaged so that the bridge will remain safe for travelers.

During the recent heavy rains and flooding in Tennessee, bridge inspection crews in the Chattanooga, southern middle Tennessee and west Tennessee regions responded to a number of scour alerts and in one instance in west Tennessee, closed a bridge and initiated a number of repairs to ensure the bridge remained safe for traffic.

The “Bridge Watch” program is just one part of a larger overall inspection and review process that ensures the bridges in our state are safe for motorists. Tennessee is consistently recognized for having one of the best bridge inspection programs in the nation and this program is certainly one of the reasons.

About Gerald Nicely

Gerald Nicely is the Commissioner of Transportation for the State of Tennessee. He serves on the Board the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. He was a Founding Board member of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts and a Charter Board member of the Nashville Housing Fund. He is an alumnus of Leadership Nashville.  Nicely has received numerous awards for public service including: Tennessee Association of Public Administration’s Public Administrator of the Year in 2006, the Nashville Kiwanis Club’s co-Nashvillian of the year in 2001 (his wife Donna was the co-recipient), the Nashville Chapter of the American Public Relations Society’s Apollo award in 2006 and the Nashville Engineering Center’s Distinguished Builder Award.

The radical right in this country wants nothing more than to make SEIU, grassroots community groups, and any individual who fights against the status quo their next casualty. They are seeking to silence the voices of those men and women who suffered the most under 8 years of extreme right-wing policies, and to smear anyone who stands up for those men and women. Right now, there are daily attacks from conservative radio and TV pundits on us for our work on healthcare, labor rights, immigration, and our working relationship with community and progressive organizations – most recently ACORN.

Click here to view the embedded video.

ACORN has come under fire for video footage recorded by undercover operatives posing as a prostitute and her companion seeking tax and housing advice at five ACORN offices across the country. The behaviors we’ve seen on these videos as well some past improper handling of voter registration materials by individuals are unacceptable and ACORN did the right thing by taking immediate action against the responsible individuals. While over the years SEIU has contracted with ACORN for voter registration, canvassing efforts, and organizing work, the union has suspended all active work with ACORN. SEIU President Andy Stern recently joined the Advisory Council of ACORN to provide guidance as they evaluate some recent troubles they have had. Along with John Podesta, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and other Advisory Council members, Andy Stern has encouraged ACORN to take dramatic steps to resolve their underlying organizational problems, and has supported a thorough, top-to-bottom review into ACORN’s systems and processes, led by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger.

It should be noted that there are no ACORN offices or staff in Tennessee, nor has SEIU Local 205 worked with them in any official capacity.

At the same time, we must recognize the important need for services and organizations that address issues faced by low- and moderate-income families. ACORN’s challenge, if they want to continue to be a national organization that provides these services, is to immediately conduct an internal investigation to swiftly and completely root out their underlying problems and make sure these issues never come up again.

Our challenge – and that of the progressive community – is to make sure that the critical work of voter registration and campaigns for better housing, schools, neighborhood safety, healthcare, and job conditions continues so we can lift people out of poverty and help rebuild our economy. Furthermore, we refuse to let smear attempts from the radical right deter us from our own goals of passing affordable healthcare, fixing our broken immigration system, and building an economy that works for everyone.

Samuel P. Huntington

In his landmark study of the cultural and civilizational origins of conflict and war, the late social scientist Samuel P. Huntington concluded boldly that “It is human to hate.” He viewed this as an ineradicable feature of our basic human nature.

Hatred, as anyone who follows national politics in this country knows, shows no signs of going away soon. Much of it is directed against the president, though senators and representatives (and, less frequently, federal judges) are also targets of hate from time to time.

Earlier this month, President Jimmy Carter stated that “the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he’s African American.” Not surprisingly, his comments angered many and led to accusations of playing the so-called “race card” to denigrate those (presumably white) Americans who are fiercely opposed to Pres. Obama’s policy goals in health care, the economy, and other issue areas.

Jimmy Carter

Alleged assertions of racism, which are empirical claims, should not be given or received lightly. Carter has a responsibility to substantiate his claim, which he has done only in rather general and vague terms. It appears that Carter can only conclude that the raw hatred directed against Pres. Obama at some protests and town hall meetings around the country and, more disturbingly, on blogs and in chat rooms on the Internet is due to racial bias. There is much in American history to make such a conclusion a plausible one. However, it should not be seen as inevitable or the only conclusion.

Expressions of hatred tend to demonize and distort their targets with varying degrees of exaggeration. George W. Bush was vilified by many as being grossly incompetent in dealing with domestic affairs and as relying too much, even blindly, on a rigid version of his evangelical faith to guide his foreign and national security policy. Bill Clinton, by contrast, was despised by many because of his deeply flawed moral character and expansive ego.

President Barrack Obama

Barack Obama is a very different type of person and politician compared to Bush and Clinton. Even his critics are quick to acknowledge his intellectual strengths and rhetorical skills. Moreover, he has, at least to this point, avoided the sort of personal scandals that plagued Clinton before and during his presidency. All of this means that haters of Obama must demonize him in other ways, such as by shouting him down as a liar, branding him as a communist, or comparing him to Osama bin Laden (the “Obama bin Lyin’” displayed on the signs of some protesters) or Adolf Hitler (whose image has been combined with the likeness of Obama in some posters). Still others continue to claim that Obama, who is really a closet Muslim, was not born in the United States and therefore his presidency is illegitimate.

Mayor Johnny Piper

What, we might ask, is fueling these distorted characterizations of the president, especially those that are both erroneous and hateful at the same time, such as the recent e-mail message stereotyping Muslims forwarded by Clarksville Mayor Johnny Piper to city employees?

If it is not racial bias, and I still cling to the hope that it is not, then it is incumbent upon those of us most opposed to this president to frame our opposition to him in terms that are at once rational and respectful. In his two books, Obama gives us a standard by which to judge him and other leaders on the basis of their ability to distinguish between fact and opinion, to develop sound reasons in support of policy, and to argue persuasively about how citizens in a democracy can best respond to social challenges in specific contexts.

This strikes me, frankly, as a reasonable standard and one we can apply with greatest effectiveness if we lower our sights by not striving for love or hatred with respect to our political leaders.

Clearly, it is human to hate, just as it is human to love. History has shown that both of these passions can lead to dangerous and violent outcomes when mingled with politics.

Fortunately, it is also human to reason. In the realm of politics and especially during these uncertain times, it is best call on reason and to keep our passions in check.

About Matthew T. Kenney

Matthew T. Kenney is an associate professor of political science at Austin Peay State University. The views expressed here are entirely his own, and do not represent those of his employer.

Does he really know what he's doing?

I”m a former HGTV junkie. I used to sit and watch hours of it, and I absorbed more interior decorating, real estate, and DIY than I could possibly use in a lifetime. I would probably still be that way, but my current occupations as mommy, taxi, nurse, teacher, finance manager, counselor, cook, maid, and of course, writer, do not leave much of an opportunity for television.

But if there was one thing I learned from my HGTV education, it’s that preparation is key when doing any type of project. I’ve put this principle into practive with every job I have done and have always had great results. Whether it is painting a bookshelf or completely gutting a bathroom, you have to start out the right way.

I wish someone had told that to the handyman I hired a couple of weeks ago to paint my kitchen buffet. As the  DIY mommy, I prefer to do things myself, but for this particular project I was pressed for time and wanted it done before my husband returned from a business trip. So, I found two local “experienced” handymen who came complete with referrals to tackle the simple task of painting a hutch along with a few other small things around my house. Sounds great, right?

Not really.

The handymen arrived rather promptly, give or take 30 minutes, and I laid out all the supplies they would need: drop clothes, 220-grit sandpaper, hand sander, brushes, primer, paint, and trays. I told one of  the guys I wanted the entire hutch painted, the other started working on another job, and I was off to take Little Man to pre-school. I will admit that I am sometimes what you could call a micro-manager. That is one of the reasons why I like to do things myself. But this particular morning, I welcomed the break. Ater dropping Little Man off, I stopped to grab a quick bite, feeling confident that with two able-bodied men working at my house, my hutch was going to turn out beautifully.

When I arrived home, my hutch was black. I was shocked. While black is the color that I chose for the piece, I could not believe that he had had time to sand, prime, and paint a large piece of furniture in the time that I was gone. Pleased that he was such an efficient worker, I went to work in the garage while he helped his partner finish up another small job.

As they neared the end of their work, one of them called me into the house:

“Ma’am, what is this primer in here for?”

A little concerned, I look over to the kitchen table, and there sits a brand new can of primer, unopened, with an unused handsander right next to it. Very concerned, I tell him, “It’s for the hutch, didn’t you prime the hutch?”

“Um, no, you only said you wanted it painted.”

I cannot express the irritation that I felt at that moment. While I did not explicitly say to “sand, wipe, prime, and paint” the hutch, any person who has ever done any type of painting should know that you have to prime first. Especially if you are painting over finished wood. Otherwise the paint will not adhere. For a handyman familiar with painting, this should have been common practice.

So now, even after almost three weeks, I cannot place anything on my buffet.  The paint is still tacky. canisters, boxes, dishes, place mats;  they all stick right to it, pulling the paint off when you pick them up. With nothing to hold it to the wood, the paint comes off at the slightest touch.  The only fix? Sand it down and start again.

Morale of the story: If you want it done right, do it yourself. If you absolutely must hire someone, explain everything. Do not assume that they have any professional knowledge. Leave a list, and if they do not complete everything on it, dock it from their pay. Otherwise you may find yourself redoing and spending your own time, and on your own dime.

Here are a few of the consequences of not eating breakfast:

• Greater fatigue and sleepiness in the mid-morning hours
• Greater propensity towards weight gain because you tend to eat more junk food later and don’t get the nutritional requirements from two meals
• Reduced alertness and poor concentration resulting in poorer academic performance
• Greater hyperactivity and more disruptive classroom behavior
• Higher rate of irritability and anxiety
• Reduced memory
• Increased chance of becoming diabetic, having high cholesterol or high blood pressure

Need I say more? The case for eating breakfast is well-documented by many studies.

School systems always provide free breakfast on the days of TCAP testing because they know children perform better when eating before school is part of their routine. Parents need to be aware of this too.

Two problems (not addressing the cost of food) keep children from having breakfast: parents who don’t think they have enough time to fix breakfast in the morning and children who claim they aren’t hungry and won’t eat.

School cafeterias now cook a nutritious breakfast so that’s always an option.

At home, breakfast can be prepared the night before or even on the weekend before and refrigerated until the school day. Nontraditional foods can be served in the morning. Breakfast doesn’t have to be bacon or sausage or ham and eggs.

Here are some other suggestions: make a casserole or quiche on the weekend and warm up a slice on the school day. Another easy option is fruit and cheese with a glass of milk, or a bowl of cereal and a piece of toast with a glass of juice. A peanut butter sandwich is better than no breakfast at all. A toasted bagel with jam or peanut butter and juice or milk works fine.

Don’t count out vegetables in the morning if that’s what your child will eat. Instant oatmeal, grits or rice with melted cheese are other great choices. Pita bread with hard-boiled egg and chicken or tuna salad will work. Even a carton of yoghurt or a slice of banana bread or cheese and crackers or a fruit smoothie can start the day on a healthful note. I have one high-achieving student who eats biscotti and decaf coffee with milk every morning.

If your child is a picky eater, make breakfast fun. Paper plates that look like an animal can encourage a child to eat. Or send breakfast in a decorated bag to school so that the child can eat before class or can have a large snack later.

Another way to encourage a reluctant eater is to serve several different items in small rice bowls. Sometimes seeing a mountain of food on a plate is intimidating to a child. Being able to eat small bits of several foods is more enticing.

A child who comes to school without breakfast may be the child who ends up in tears before school starts. Somewhere inside, the child feels cheated whether or not he can verbalize that feeling.

A little girl told me recently that her family had no food at home. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of that sad occurrence.

In Clarksville, many church groups provide weekend food for children who formerly were going hungry when free and reduced lunches are not available on the weekends. The children are given peanut butter or cheese crackers, containers of fruits or puddings, granola bars, fruit drinks, etc. every Friday. They are called to the gym and have the foods loaded in their backpacks so that none is embarrassed.

Breakfast is so important for a child’s good health. We can’t let a busy schedule, a lack of planning ahead, or any other factor cheat our children out of not only what they need but what they deserve.

Don’t let your children skip breakfast. It’s vital to their health and well-being.

“The federal government is too big. Our founding fathers would be appalled at the size and scope of our current federal government. Even Alexander Hamilton (a Federalist), who preferred a strong central government would be appalled that the federal government is considering banning texting while driving – that should be a state rights issue, like speed limits.”

In an attempt to justify their viewpoints both conservative and progressive talk show hosts commonly claim a ideological lineage back to the founding fathers. The hope is to connect their line of thinking to the line of thinking that birthed this great country. I have always been particularly interested in the attempt to link the current conservative philosophy with that of the Federalist. And the most famous federalist is Alexander Hamilton.

Hamilton preferred an Aristocracy not a Democracy. As with most participants of the Constitutional Convention, he felt the Constitution was not the best document but the best compromise among so many competing interests. Most participants left the convention feeling that they had not gotten their preferences and voices heard. Hamilton more so, because of issues with his state’s delegatory make up. Hamilton expressed that he was content with a democracy, in that its weaknesses would eventually give way to his idea of an aristocracy.

A tax collector is tarred and feathered by anti-tax frontiersmen during the Whiskey Rebellion.

Our first Secretary of Treasury was Hamilton. During the Revolutionary War, the federal government could only request states contribute to the federal war chest. Often states would contribute only pennies on a requested dollar. The states did have a somewhat valid excuse because they were funding individual state militias. Hamilton pushed vigorously for federal taxation of states. When his plan to tax alcohol was passed, the citizens rebelled. Hamilton reacted by not merely sending armed troops to arrest the dissenters, but joined them for the mission in what is known as the Whiskey Rebellion.

The idea for a National Bank to be run by the federal government came from Hamilton and met stiff resistance. When others argued that the Constitution did not allow Congress that authority, he argued that it could be done because the Constitution did not prohibit such an action.

Hamilton was anti-regulation, but not in how current conservatives are anti-regulation. Hamilton argued that if the federal government was empowered to regulate activity, it would be far better for the government to just take over the activity and do it itself. He argued regulating watchdogs would be horribly inefficient. Their only power would to be a deterrent to negative activity through threats of punitive fines. Why try to stop bad activity and wait to punish, when the government could just do it right the first time. As part of the government the regulated process would be open, transparent, and accountable directly to Congress.

Hamilton was an immigrant. Most politicians of the time spawned their careers in the states. Hamilton had no such ties/constraints, either financial or political. Being foreign born, his patriotism and motives were often criticized.

So now that we know some facts, read the hosts comments again. The host relies on us not knowing these facts to justify his rational. He stated that “even” a “strong government” advocate would be appalled at our current situation. That is of course impossible to know for sure, but Hamilton was a big government radical back then, what reason do we have for assuming that now his views would be different.

The host then makes a classic radio talk show move, and dumbs down the entire “big government” problem to speed limits and texting while driving. Why doesn’t he mention regulation, national banking system, or federal taxes? Because we already know what Hamilton’s views were on those issues. The host picks minor issues that were non-existent during Hamilton’s time so that he can’t be proven wrong.

The liberal radio hosts do the same thing, only in reverse. They champion Hamilton as a forward thinking progressive that would argue for national banking, for increased government take over of crucial industries, and for more taxes. It is the the other side of the same coin….the exact same coin.

There is no way to tell what Hamilton would say about our current government. Speculating about it, by actively ignoring the facts, is manipulation and disinformation.