TEP Madison Co Committee launches

About 20 people attended the launch of the Madison County Committee tonight to provide new organization for the fight for equality in West TN.

The Madison Co Committee joins similar structures in the Tri-Cities, Knox County, Hamilton/Bradley Counties, Sumner County, Rutherford County, Nashville, and Shelby County. It fills a significant gap in TEP's coverage of the state. See the Jackson Sun's coverage here.

TEP Madison County Chair Drew Baker issues a call for those in West TN to help and get involved in the effort:



For more information, contact us at info@tnep.org .

Just your friendly neighborhood, non-partisan paper

"We're not conservative or liberal; we are local," says the Jackson Sun's Steve Coffman:

So that's why I'm confused when I hear people talk about "that liberal Jackson Sun." Upon careful review, it just doesn't stick.

What concerns me when I hear such statements is that they sometimes appear to be fueled by talk show hosts who make their living dividing and classifying Americans as one thing or another, for us or against us. I don't know about you, but I don't fit neatly into any of those classifications. I hold some views that many would consider liberal. I hold others that many would consider conservative. Please don't paint me, and please don't paint this newspaper with one brush before you use your own head to make an informed decision, rather than applying some talk show act's stereotypes.

After all, most of the issues we at The Jackson Sun take a stand on involve things going on right here in West Tennessee. They are neither Republican nor Democrat, liberal nor conservative. They are local. And we are a local newspaper.

Newsweek editor coming to Jackson to talk about Jackson

Newsweek editor Jon Meacham will be in Jackson on October 30 for an event which he will discuss his book, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House.

With the presidential election in November, it's a perfect time to have a new book out on Jackson. Meacham said, "Whoever takes the oath of office next Jan. 20 is taking over an office essentially created not by Washington or Adams but by Jackson."

Then he added, "Your city is named for a president who had two bullets in him, who had killed a man in a duel, engaged in a street brawl in which he almost lost an arm. He was a man who attacked his own assassin twice. He tried to physically assault a man afterward. This was not a retiring soul. He believed he had the interests of the people at heart against the elites."

Meacham pointed out that Jackson came in as president "after exactly the same kind of rhetoric you're hearing from Obama and McCain - 'We're going to clean up Washington.' He was the first person who wrote that public script."

Green Party's McKinney in Tennessee this week

A press release from Chris Lugo says that Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney will be in Tennessee this week with stops in Memphis, Jackson, Dickson, and Nashville on Wednesday and Thursday. Stops in Nashville include Tennessee State University, Fisk University, and Carver Food Park.

As the Green Party candidate, issues of environmental and racial justice will
highlight her Tennessee visit. “Cynthia has chosen to visit people and places

that the Democrats and Republicans would would rather forget, such as

the victims of environmental racism in Dickson, Tennessee. I think this is why

Cynthia is the best choice this election season, because it is clear that she is

the people's candidate," said Chris Lugo Green candidate for the US Senate.

Term limits, leadership, and unpopular decisions

For some reason, I find myself puzzling over the Jackson Sun's editorial pages more than any other in the state, perhaps because they deal with issues and take sides. Today they are touting a proposal for term limits that would apply to the Mayor and City Council of Jackson. In essence, they are arguing that the voters should have the chance to decide whether they want term limits.

Strictly speaking, their stance to let the voters decide doesn't contradict the idea that the absence of term limits helps create statesmen and women who can develop a bank of credibility and good will. Having been reelected in some cases many times, they are occasionally free to make unpopular decisions without fear of voter retribution. The Sun praised the non-term-limited House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh (D-Covington) here for his willingness to do so in the case of a gun bill.

Term limits in Jackson?

http://www.jacksonsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080410/NEWS01/80410028

That's what one member of council is proposing.