[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnajN-5FZuE[/youtube]
One of my coworkers admitted today that he would listen to Nashville Predators play-by-play announcer Pete Weber reading the phone book. I might not go that far, but I agree that Weber is one of the best broadcasters out there, and Nashville is fortunate to have him on board. We’re fortunate to have a great NHL team in town, too, so let’s keep it that way. One way to support that cause is to show up on Thursday, July 19, by attending the free Our Team public rally at the Sommet Center. Here’s more information from, you guessed it, Pete Weber.

As expected, Apple has hit a home run with the launch of its iPhone, but AT&T countered with a pop fly to center over the weekend. Some first-day iPhoners waited hours and even days in some cases before they were able to activate their new gadgets on the AT&T network, causing plenty of frustration for early adopters who camped out ahead of the June 29 launch day.

A friend in my office bought one at the Green Hills Apple store at 7 p.m. Friday not long after the humongous line had dissipated. His wife decided to take the plunge at 10 p.m. the same evening. The family’s first iPhone activated minutes after purchase, but iPhone number two held up until Sunday evening before signing on with AT&T.

It’s never good to generate tons of hype and then have trouble delivering upon the promise, but analyst Rob Enderle makes a solid observation about how both AT&T and Apple can respond:

Depending on how the companies handle customer’s complaints, it could in fact help, he said. If customers feel the company has treated them well, they are more likely to buy and recommend its products in the future. “It doesn’t matter whether your product breaks or not,” Enderle said. “It matters how well you treat your customers.”

I agree. We’re all human and make plenty of mistakes, even big ones. What matters most is how we react when things don’t go the way we planned. People will be more likely to forgive a glitch such as this, in my opinion, if they receive good customer service along the way, but bad customer service can crush even a great product if it is bad enough.

Carolyn Baldwin Tucker, current Metro Council member and candidate to be Nashville’s next vice-mayor, is known for breaking into song at public events and singing, “If you want honesty, integrity, vote for Carolyn B.” It appears to me that she is trying to conceal the motivations for her position against domestic partner benefits for city employees, which strikes me as neither honest nor acting with integrity:

Tucker was criticized for voting in 2003 against a bill that would have protected Metro’s gay and lesbian employees from discrimination based on their sexual orientation. She said Thursday that her vote reflected the beliefs of a majority of county residents. “The vote was not against the gay and homosexual community,” she said. “It was against codification of special rights for persons … who are falling into the gay and lesbian and homosexual community.”

I feel confident that Tucker’s opposition to this bill is grounded in her constituents’ opinions, but it is also influenced by her  view that homosexuality is morally wrong, which she neglected to mention in The Tennessean’s story quoted above. I respect Tucker’s right to believe whatever she chooses to believe, but I think she is misrepresenting her views here by trying to claim that her vote was not “against the gay and homosexual community.” In my opinion, if you believe that homosexuality is morally wrong, say so and state that as one of your reasons for opposing the benefits bill. Don’t pretend that you are merely opposing “codification of special rights” or that your position is not contrary (or against) the wishes of the homosexual community.

Chris Wage commented on similar remarks from Tucker in 2003, if you are interested in reading more.

Are David Briley and Karl Dean just a “sideshow” compared to the real mayoral race? City Paper Editor Clint Brewer, writing at the publication’s new Political Animals blog, thinks so:

To date, the Battle of Bongo Java has dominated the minds and mouths of the city’s political set - the tug of war between brainy Councilman At-Large David Briley and former Metro Legal Director Karl Dean. Both men appeal to the crowd in town that finds a Clement administration totally unacceptable, more so for the decidedly verbal country twang with which Clement would represent the city than for anything he actually would or would not support. Why most of these same good Democrats were all too happy to see Clement stay for over a decade in the U.S. Congress - voting on little things like the global war on terrorism, health care and the federal highway bill - but cannot now back him in a mayoral race is dumbfounding.

 

The Dean/Briley croquet match is really a sideshow in this race, unless Dean is able to dump an obscene, seven-figure lump of cash into television between July 5 and August. Members of his kitchen cabinet have bandied about a figure of $1.5 million, but that presumably would be for the entire gig - election and run-off race - and he has already spent a fair amount thus far.

As a consistent voter who has never cast a ballot for Bob Clement and would prefer not to see Buck Dozier come out on top, I hope Brewer is wrong. With a field scattered in so many directions and none of the candidates yet capturing the city’s imagination the way Bill Purcell did in 1999, it’s hard to determine anything for certain with the election only a month away.

I think one conclusion is still safe to draw, though: Having two progressive candidates isn’t doing those of us likely to vote for either of them–or the city–any favors.