TMCnet News
The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn., Michael Silence column: Tea Party movement stimulating(Knoxville News-Sentinel, The (TN) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Mar. 1--Well, it seems we're throwing an online Tea Party, and thousands are attending. Could this be a political movement? Glenn Reynolds, fellow Knoxvillian, fellow blogger and fellow independent with Libertarian leanings, has been following the viral campaign on President Obama's and Congress' spending bill. The ball started rolling: "So the Tea Party Movement is well underway. And I think there's a lot to be said for the notion of demonstrating over passing the biggest spending bill in history without even reading it. If that's not a reason for protest, what is? But should there be further goals? It's a viral, grassroots movement, so it's a matter for discussion, not direction. But here are some alternatives -- and please discuss in the comments." The UT law professor then posted a poll asking "What should be the goal of the Tea Party movement?" In just a 24 hours after its posting Wednesday, the post had more than 6,500 votes and over 300 comments. Forty percent of the respondents favors "electing fiscal hawks." Twenty-six percent favored "An amendment to limit spending to a percentage of GDP." Nashville's Nathan Moore then weighed in: "The New American Tea Party has gone conservative viral. Instapundit has details. There is a national Facebook page here. "Tennessee has a local event coming up this Friday at noon at the Legislative Plaza in downtown Nashville. Details will be posted here as they become available, so bookmark this post, Digg it, etc. The Tennessee New American Tea Party Facebook page is up as well. I will also be posting details to my Twitter page, http://www.twitter.com/moorethoughts (yeah, I know I was behind, but I'm caught up now!)." That prompted me to pop off: "Hey, new media is bringing down old media. Why not a viral party bringing down the dinosaurs?" We'll see where it goes. http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/71169/ http://moorethoughts.com/2009/02/24/the-new-american-tea-party-coming-to-tennessee/ http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/silence/archives/2009/02/new_american_te.shtml FUNNY OF THE WEEK Scott Adcox tweets, "I can't make it to Obama's fiscal responsibility summit. I'll be at Hugh Hefner's virginity symposium." http://twitter.com/sadcox/status/1241899135 BLOGS AND THE TNDP I've written here before about Tennessee bloggers wanting to be invited to the table in the decision-making process within the Tennessee Democratic Party. West Tennessee blogger Trace Sharp last week provided some further context to that push: "The blogosphere is what it is. And they are going to be critical at times and praise at times. Anyone on any side of the political bench needs to know that we live in a world filled with social media, blog posts about the here and now and an e-mail system where people are talking nonstop about their passions. In this case, it's progressive politics. "There are two ways to go here. Embrace it and see it as a way for communicating to the folks who are going to be working with you. Or alienate them. "I'd go with door number one if I was the TNDP and learn some quick social media skills ASAP." http://newscoma.com/2009/02/24/the-choice-for-the-tndp/ BLOGGING PIZZA Colleague Carly Harrington brought me the news of a new pizza place coming to my neck of the woods: "Papa Murphy's, a "take and bake" pizza franchise, is opening a location in Bearden. "The store is being built from the ground up on a small tract next to First Tennessee bank at the corner of Kingston Pike and Forest Park Boulevard. "The take and bake concept allows customers to pick the ingredients they want on their pizza, then they take it home and bake it in their own oven. This will be the fourth location. There are stores on Clinton HIghway, Chapman Highway and North Broadway in Fountain City." ONLINE DICTIONARY Blount County's Randy Neal brings us a recommendation: http://www.knoxviews.com/node/10556 CORRECTION Last week in this space, I misidentified Casey Peters in a item about Comcast Cable using Twitter. You can find Casey here: http://knoxify.com/. Michael Silence blogs at No Silence Here, and Twitters at twitter.com/michaelsilence and twitter.com/nosilencehere. To see more of The Knoxville News-Sentinel or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.knoxnews.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |