After the race, contestants gathered for beer, music, and camaraderie. Here are a few photos I took.

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• Before the race, at the mouth of the Wolf River.

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• An eager contestant.

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• Observing the race, watching for spills.

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• John Ruskey, subject of a recent Flyer cover story about the exploration of Big Island. His canoe team won the large canoe category.

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• Not a Bass Pro Shop yet, but looking good.

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• Louis Graham

Graham has worked at the CA for 33 years, the last three as managing editor. Here is Graham's quote from the CA release: “This is not something I envisioned when I started as a bureau reporter in our Jackson, Tennessee, bureau right out of college. But it’s something I take very seriously," Graham said Monday. "I revere the institution and what it has meant to the region for 173 years. My goal is to contribute to its history in a meaningful way by keeping the journalism strong and relevant.”

Here's the CA story on Graham's promotion (paywall).

Delta Airlines announced Tuesday that it would cut the number of its Memphis flights and no longer use the city airport as a hub for its operations. As of September 3rd, daily Delta flights will drop from 94 to around 60 or so. The airline will also cut 230 jobs in Memphis.

In a memo to employees, senior Delta vice presidents Tony Charaf and Gil West wrote: “Despite a series of adjustments in recent years, high fuel costs and the predominant use of inefficient 50-seat regional jets in a small local-traffic market have made Memphis unprofitable as a hub.”

As the Flyer has reported, Delta has been raising fares and reducing its Memphis flights for several years.

WMC-TV Channel 5 has posted the original Delta Memo.

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• Bill Day cartoon

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You can read the story linked above for details, but the short of it is that Blackburn either doesn't understand what an equal pay law is, or she is just trying to spin her refusal to vote for such laws as a principled ideological stance. Either way, if she really thinks "most women" don't want equal pay protection for doing equal work, she's piteously out of touch with reality.

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Here's the governor's official statement: NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam released the following statement regarding HB 1191/SB 1248:

“Agriculture is the No. 1 industry in Tennessee. Farmers play a vital role in our state’s economy, heritage and history. I understand their concerns about large scale attacks on their livelihoods. I also appreciate that the types of recordings this bill targets may be obtained at times under false pretenses, which I think is wrong,” Haslam said.

“Our office has spent a great deal of time considering this legislation. We’ve had a lot of input from people on all sides of the issue. After careful consideration, I am going to veto the legislation. Some vetoes are made solely on policy grounds. Other vetoes may be the result of wanting the General Assembly to reconsider the legislation for a number of reasons. My veto here is more along the lines of the latter. I have a number of concerns.

“First, the Attorney General says the law is constitutionally suspect. Second, it appears to repeal parts of Tennessee’s Shield Law without saying so. If that is the case, it should say so. Third, there are concerns from some district attorneys that the act actually makes it more difficult to prosecute animal cruelty cases, which would be an unintended consequence.

“For these reasons, I am vetoing HB1191/SB1248, and I respectfully encourage the General Assembly to reconsider this issue.”

To which I would add, "Way to go, Bill."

We go to a rustic cabin along Beaver Creek, which at its widest could handle two rowboats passing (if boats were allowed), and which narrows to 10 or 12 feet in many spots.

The trout are fat and plentiful, since the stream is stocked. And it's also inhabited by a few smaller native fish. Some days we catch 10 or 12; some days we get skunked. The water is clear and the fish are easily spooked.

But the fishing is almost secondary. Four of us are now three, a yearly reminder of fleeting time and mortality. We come from Detroit, Erie, and Memphis and bond over cigars, campfires, bullshit, and the occasional fat trout.

I just got back. Here are a few pictures.

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• Tiger trout (brook/brown hybrid)

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• I caught one in the "big pool."

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• "Art" in the cabin.

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A precipitous drop occurred on the tweeted "news" that the president had been injured in a bombing incident at the White House.

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AP quickly regained control of its site and tweeted that it had been hacked, but the response from Wall Street clearly illustrates the damage that can be wreaked when social media mischief occurs. As one wag tweeted:

"Somewhere the Twitter CEO is stroking a white cat saying 'excellent' realizing Twitter can tank the market."

The irrepressibly wacky legislator from Knoxville thought it would be hilarious to post a "humorous" graphic of a pressure cooker as a weapon. Because, you know, those murderers in Boston used bombs made from pressure cookers, so ... funny, right?

His point, if you want to call it that, was to illustrate the hypocrisy of the left for calling for gun control after the Sandy Hook shootings but not calling for pressure cooker control after the Boston bombings. Or something.

It's all too tiresome to explain further. If you really must read his rationale, go to his blog, which is probably what he had in mind anyway.

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Subsequent reports indicate that Curtis was also an Elvis tribute artist. Several clips of him performing songs by the King are on YouTube. But, did you know Curtis also does a mean Prince imitation. And by "mean," I mean really, really bad. This video showing Curtis creeping out a class of teenagers starts out badly and ends on a high note — a very bad high note.

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This enlightened piece of legislature requires that anyone who takes video or photos of animal abuse must turn over said photographs or video to law enforcement within 48 hours. Proponents of the law say it will help prevent animal cruelty, but the law, similar if not identical to laws proposed in many other states, is the brainchild of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing, corporate-funded outfit that's helpfully writing corporate-friendly legislation for GOP legislators all over the country.

The real purpose of the law is to stifle investigations of animal abuse or poor and unhealthy conditions for farm animals. It might better termed a "First Amendment Gag" law, since its intended to deter activist organizations and the media from reporting on offensive or illegal corporate farming methods.

I don't believe the law would stand up in court, if challenged, and, as Bianca noted, the Knoxville Sentinal has already declared that it will ignore the law. But it could, as it was no doubt intended to do, deter media outlets and activist groups without the deep pockets needed to take such a case to trial.

It's beyond absurd. Let's say ALEC decides we shouldn't have the media reporting on corporate pollution (not that far-fetched an idea), and decides that all video and photos of a corporate-polluted stream must be turned over to law enforcement within 48 hours. I honestly think the TN legislature would jump on board. It's the same principle, and patently unconstitutional.

This law has now been sent on to Governor Haslam. Don't hold your breath that he won't sign it.

The Tennessee legislature is all about protecting Second Amendment rights. The First Amendment? Not so much, apparently.

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But the story of the week was the two-stroke penalty imposed on Woods on Saturday morning. Woods went to bed thinking he was three under par, only three strokes behind the leaders, heading into the weekend. Saturday morning he was informed he'd made an illegal drop on Friday, after a shot he hit had gone in the water after hitting the pin.

So what changed? After having seen no problem with Woods' drop on Friday, the PGA changed its decision the next day and decided to penalize him. Why? Because some television viewers had pointed out that Tiger's drop was taken a club-length or two farther back than the spot where the original shot was taken.

This brings up some interesting questions — at least, they're interesting to golf fans like me. The first is whether television viewers should be influencing the outcome of sporting events. It's the equivalent, in my mind, anyway, of television viewers pointing out that a pro basketball player's foot was touching the out-of-bounds line when he made a shot, and the NBA upon learning about it, taking away the basket the next day. That won't happen, of course. If the ref or the umpire misses the call in any other sport, that's just the way cookie crumbles. Tough darts. Golf, not so much, apparently.

The second question I have is whether it's fair that a player who's on television when he makes a shot is held to a higher standard than a player who isn't. For all we know, a similar, slightly improper drop could have been made by other players who didn't happen to be on camera when they did it. In that case, being on television when you make a penalty drop is a disadvantage, because that player is being held to a higher standard — one being administered by millions of TV referees.

The rules folks were using a sort of delayed "non-instant" replay to make a call that seriously impacted the outcome of a tournament. Was it the right thing to do? I don't think so.

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SavingCountryMusic.com did a lovely write-up on her appearance and her career.

Here's a video of the Sunday's performance.

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Backyard jasmine in fog.

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Fog rolling down Vance from Front Street.

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Looking east from the river bluff.

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From the blufftop, looking at Tom Lee Park.