How did White House e-mails go missing? A federal appeals court is cool to the idea of forcing the Bush administration to reveal records that might explain what happened.

During a half-hour-long argument Nov. 14, the three-judge panel suggested that the Freedom of Information Act does not apply to the records, a signal that the court would allow the documents to remain confidential.

The judges seemed dismissive of the argument that the White House office housing the records had responded to other FOIA requests for many years, until it was sued a year and a half ago in the e-mail controversy.

Judge Thomas Griffith expressed doubt that the White House’s previous position is legally significant.

“Why does it matter? ... They made a mistake,” Griffith told Anne Weismann, chief counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

For nearly three years, the White House has revealed little about the difficulties with its e-mail system, which may have resulted in the loss of millions of electronic messages.

The problems first surfaced during the investigation of the leak of Valerie Plame’s identity as a CIA employee, when prosecutors sought e-mails from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney.

Lawsuits filed by private groups and testimony at a congressional hearing in February disclosed that the White House had failed to install automatic archiving for its e-mail. Instead, the White House stored electronic messages on computer servers in what was to have been a stopgap measure but continued for at least five years. The White House said in February it was in the process of getting an archive.

In June, the White House drafted a document that calls for an attempted recovery effort for as many as 225 days worth of e-mail. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the draft document in August.

The White House refuses to say whether it has hired a contractor to undertake such a recovery effort, which would involve trying to pull copies of any missing messages from tens of thousands of computer backup tapes.

A federal judge agreed with the White House that the Office of Administration is not subject to the FOIA, and CREW appealed.

On Nov. 14, Weismann argued that the White House Office of Administration is not entitled to an exemption from FOIA requirements, unlike, for example, the National Security Council, which advises and assists the president.

Judge A. Raymond Randolph suggested Weismann’s position would take the White House “down the slippery slope” of courts impinging on presidential power.

At the same time, the judges made clear that the Justice Department lawyer speaking on behalf of the White House had taken his argument too far.

Justice Department lawyer Thomas Bondy argued for the importance of the Office of Administration, saying that President George W. Bush is the head of it.

“And he spends a lot of time on that,” replied Griffith, drawing laughter.

Bondy held his ground, saying that the director of the Office of Administration is the chief administrator of the Executive Office of the President and that the office is the management arm of the president.

The other judge who heard the appeal was David Sentelle, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan. Randolph is an appointee of President George H.W. Bush; Griffith, of current President Bush.

Group takes quest for White House e-mails to D.C. Circuit

What is Turning the Tables?
A unique, fun-filled event where local celebrities serve as "wait staff" to our guests. Southern Exposure Magazine's, Turning the Tables will benefit Save the Franklin Theatre - a project of the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County. This will be a 21-and-over event.

The evening event will be hosted by the newly opened Boxwood Bistro, located in front of the Factory at Franklin, where celebrities will tend bar, serve food and entertain. Rather than a seated, multi-course dinner, guests will mix and mingle through various food stations and high-top bistro tables. Delicious food, a variety of beverages, great music and good cheer will characterize the evening, which is expected to be a sold-out event.

Who is being asked to participate?
Local celebrities in television, sports, music, government and more. Celebrities including Scott Hamilton, Michael W. Smith, Kirk Whalum, Frank Wycheck, Erron Kinney, Darcy Hordichuk, Kelly Sutton, Rhori Johnston, 107.5's Intern Adam and more are just some of our celebrity servers from the two previous events.

When is Turning the Tables?
Monday, Sept. 29, 2008; 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.

Where is Turning the Tables?
Boxwood Bistro

Please consider being a part of one of the most important fundraising events of the year. By joining Southern Exposure in helping Save the Franklin Theatre, you will be serving the community and helping to save one of Franklin's most treasured landmarks and entertainment venues.
::)

About Save the Franklin Theatre

The Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County purchased the Franklin Theatre buildings in the fall of 2007 with a $1.75 million interest-free loan from Emily Magid, board member and nine-year volunteer to the organization. This spring, Cal Turner offered to donate $1 million dollars to the Save the Franklin Theatre project if the Heritage Foundation could match the gift. Magid stepped forward again, forgiving her first loan and making her donation an even $2 million.

“With these two major gifts from Emily Magid and Cal Turner, the Franklin Theatre is secure,” Heritage Foundation President David Garrett stated at the time. “However, it is less than halfway to the goal of $7 million to make it the state-of-the-art movie and event venue that is envisioned for the community.”

The fundraising effort continues. Heritage Foundation Executive Director Mary Pearce says that while much has been raised, the project still has a long way to go.

“We are excited to have reached half of our financial goal with lead gifts from Emily Magid and from the Cal Turner Family Foundation,” Pearce says. “Another $500,000 has been raised from various donors and grants. But it will take all of us in this community to reach our total goal of $7 million. I am so thrilled that Southern Exposure has chosen to honor our project and put us in the forefront of the community in September with this great fundraiser. We couldn’t be more pleased to be the beneficiary of Turning the Tables.”

For more information or to make a donation to the Save the Theatre campaign, visit www.savethefranklintheatre.org and www.historicfranklin.com.

Turning the Tables (EVENT - Monday, Sept. 29, 2008; 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.)

The Sixth Annual Music City Brewers Festival will take place on Saturday, July 28th, 2007 from 2pm - 8pm at the scenic Hilton Park, on the lawn of the Hilton Nashville Downtown. Sample beer from over 30 local, regional and national breweries. This one-day event is in celebration of American Beer Month, presented by the Institute for Brewing Studies. Local bands will perform all day, including the San Rafael Band and HoneyBaked. Food from area restaurants will be available as well. And since it'll be nice and toasty in Nashville in July, be sure to bring your camping chairs and shade umbrellas! Admission is $30 in advance or $40 at the door (if there's any left), and includes a souvenir mug and all beer samples.

Music City Brewer's Festival in Nashville, TN (Saturday, June 28th) American Beer Month!

Last week NBC quietly released a learning tool called iCue in conjunction with MIT. See coverage on CNET TV s Loaded. It s been designed as a learning environment using a large collection of news clips taken from NBC s video archives to enable anyone to catch up on news coverage and current events. This archived footage is put into context, as long as viewers are willing to acknowledge that the content is coming only from one source NBC , and for now only with the focus on the U.S. presidential elections.

To get going, users can simply wander around the site, viewing various footage that s been meticulously categorized and DOCUMENTed complete with transcripts . They can also put their knowledge to the test with a smattering of editor-created mini games that require both a contextual understanding of what was going on at the time of the clip, along with whatever other bits of historical insight are found in the one- to two-minute segments. There s a whole lot going on, and I m betting the casual user is going to get lost very easily.

Check it out good idea... Kind of a web oddity ....

Can NBC s iCue teach you anything new?

MTARS HAMFEST. Saturday March 15th, 2008
Directly behind the 1st Methodist Church, at Lauderdale and Jackson St., in
Tullahoma.
Street address is 208 W. Lauderdale St., Tullahoma.

Doors open at 8 AM.... main prize drawing at 2 PM

Talkin on 146.70 (minus offset).... secondary / backup on 147.195 (plus
offset)

Hourly doorprizes.

Several vendors already signed up to come.

VE testing at 9 AM. (for info, contact Bradley Brake W4BB (Email
bbrake@charter.net)

Lots of good food on site, featuring locally cooked, Award winning BBQ,
plate lunches and sandwiches, deserts, drinks, etc.

Admission $5. Children 15 and under free

Vendor tables with limited electricity $10. (Vendor setup, Friday, 5 to 8 PM
and Saturday 6 AM.)
For table info, contact Bill Holt (Email n0euu@hotmail.com)

For more info, contact Ed Hohenthaner W7LGD, Cowan Tn. phone
#(931)967-0545 Email W7LGD@yahoo.com

MTARS HAMFEST 2008

"His press corps is bigger than mine. And we both have trouble answering questions in English. "
U.S. President George W Bush, during a meeting with Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka at the White House. (Kyodo)

Whoa where did Bush w/ wit come from... :) Haha LOL!

Bush Quote Of The Day

I never thought I would ever see an emergency plan for a space
object re-entry but attached is the emergency guide announced by the
Department of Defense.

In addition... below are two interesting links from FEMA...

Public Health Emergency Response: A Guide for Leaders and
Responders.

Department of Health and Human Services. Public Health Emergency
Response: A Guide for Leaders and Responders. Washington, DC: HHS,
August 2007, pdf files updated October 2007, 129 pages.

http://www.hhs.gov/disasters/press/newsroom/leadersguide/freo-full-print.pdf

"The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) created
this guide to provide public officials (e.g., mayors, governors, county executives, emergency managers) and first responders."

Bibliography of Emergency Management & Related References On-Hand:

Since the last post relating to the Bibliography, a revised version
has been posted to the FEMA EM Hi-Ed Program website - EM References
section

http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/highref.asp

and an update of that version will soon be provided to the webmaster to upload to the website sometime next week.

Here are the links to the files:
http://lite.myfabrik.com/get/0001004aePjcEW/FEMAERGResponderGuide-SpaceObject-FINAL-02-14-2008.pdf
http://lite.myfabrik.com/get/0001004aAW4NGn/First-Responder-GuideMemo_FINAL_02-14-0822.doc
http://lite.myfabrik.com/get/0001004aZ5R62S/SpaceObjectConOps_FINAL-02-14-08.doc

I thought everyone might like to see some of these....

Space Object Re-entry Materials Guide and More... (HHS, FEMA, DOD,

PodCamp Nashville (PCN) is brought to you by Dave Delaney and Marcus Whitney of BarCamp Nashville (BCN). Kelly Stewart, BCN’s Sponsor and Speaker Relations leader returns to help manage PCN.

PCN will bring together Nashville’s Podcasting, Blogging, Digital Music, and New Media communities. Everyone from novices to experts, content creators, listeners, sponsors, educators, and businesses interested in Web 2.0 should attend this important event. PCN is free to attend.

Join us February 9th at The Cannery Ballroom. Be sure to register for free today.

If your a new media person or podcaster all day Saturday is Podcamp Nashville. It's free and their keynote speakers are C.C. Chapman of The Advance Guard and Joseph Jaffe from crayon, llc.

Hey Nick if your thinking about going let me know as there is a deadline for registration... and I think that this would be a great event.

PodCamp Nashville

For all intents and purposes, Bill and Hillary Clinton should be my candidates. On the political spectrum I consider myself center-left, and the Clintons have been center-left politicians since, well, they became politicians. You can call it centrist, or “Blue Dog,” or what have you, but they are political dealmakers in a system designed for compromise. However, the system seems to work well when those who are forced to compromise also have a set of core values that are different from the opposition. The whole notion of compromise might be a foreign thought to our ears after enduring the reign of W. and his contingent of “no compromise” congressmen and women; however, during Bill Clinton’s tenure as President, he frustrated the hell out of many Democrats by making whatever deal he could to insure that he would survive politically — even if that meant walking and talking like a Republican.

During his presidency, it seemed whenever Clinton decided to undertake a policy initiative designed to help middle-to-lower-middle class folks who elected him, he wound up doing more harm than good. From health care, to gays in the military, to reforming the social welfare system, to the Telecommunications Act, to the Defense of Marriage Act, it all seemed so antithetical to what Democrats supposedly stood for. Sure, he said he was trying to chart a “third way” in politics that would transcend the ideological clashes between New Deal Democrats and Reagan Republicans, but it seemed the only politically viable “third way” out of this clash was for him to support the party of Bill Clinton. Since Clinton is more like a “Rockefeller Republican” than a political leftie, it was easier for him to make deals with the current crop of Republicans (who became a majority in 1994) than it was with Democrats. The result of his impressive political acumen and tepid political ideology was a presidency that, at bottom, stood for one thing: political survival.

If elected, Hillary may be a different kind of President than Bill, but currently he’s dominating her campaign by doing what Bill Clinton does best: making it all about Bill. Sure, he artfully weaves Hillary’s name into his speeches, but if Hillary becomes president, I think the ’90s redux of Clintonism is bound to flounder due to the following realities:

1. We’re mired in an expensive war with no exit strategy.
2. We’re headed for (or already in) an economic recession.
3. A large majority of the Democratic base wants universal health care.
4. And if you read Dw. Dunphy’s excellent piece, Americans and the government need to get out from under the piles of debt we’ve accumulated. For the working stiff that means better paying jobs. For the government, it means stop decreasing taxes while going on a deficit spending spree. And for American businesses, it means stop boosting your profits on the backs of slave labor overseas.

If we’ve learned anything from Clintonism, or Third Way politics, it’s that it seems to do well in times of peace, ideological insouciance, and when members of your political party are not particularly united around a set of core issues. Just surveying the political attitudes of Democrats today will make it clear that having the Party of Bill back in office is the wrong way to go.

Amen...

Why Bill Clinton Is a Douchebag

A Belmont University dorm was locked down at about 11 p.m. after a student reported that there were two armed men on campus.

Metro police Capt. David Imhof said a female student reported that the men were near Thrailkill Hall. The dorm is in a gated section of the campus that requires a student identification card for entry.

Police searched the area and the dorm, going floor to floor, room to room, and did not find any weapons, Imhof said.

The lockdown was initially reported to The Tennessean by Belmont students who were unable to return to their rooms in the dorm and neighboring housing.

Police and Belmont security officers were ending the lockdown before midnight.
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“We don’t think there was any malice or harm intended,” Imhof said. “We don’t even know where she heard it from or what she heard. We think her imagination got the best of her.”

Belmont has a text message system to alert students in case of an emergency on campus. The system was not used during this incident

Belmont dorm put on lockdown