The shakeup at the Bush White House continued today with the announcement of Tony Snow as new press secretary. Ironically, another Snow may be leaving. Rumors continue to swirl that Treasury Secretary John Snow might soon decide to spend more time with the family.

But first, the incoming Snow. The departure of spokesman Scott McClellan was certainly past due. Meeting the White House press corps every day is a thankless job, and it’s frankly amazing he lasted this long. Most two-term presidencies go through four or five in the span of eight years.

Snow was certainly qualified for the job, perhaps overly qualified. He previously worked in the Bush 41 White House and will not be intimidated by the likes of Helen Thomas or David Gregory. But the move will obviously not come without controversy, matter of fact the match has already been lit:

“Tony Snow represents more of the same, not the fresh start the Administration needed,” said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney. “This is an interdepartmental move from one part of the conservative infrastructure to another that allows a darling of the right-wing to deliver the same misleading message, cherry-picked information and spin to the American people.”

Ok, it’s not like the DNC was going to praise the move. Surely the democrats would find similar ways to spin had Bush been able to select the Pope as press secretary.

Snow better check his skin depth for thickness now. He might well become the butt of jokes and fodder for late night talk shows, along with Fox News itself. The democrats might even coin ’snow job’ as a jingle or somesuch for their fall election strategy. If so, it’s hard to say whether such a tactic might work, but the reaction today proves that both sides will happily exploit whatever falls into their partisan laps.

As a routine listener of Snow’s radio show I can attest to the fact that he’s a much more broad-minded individual compared to his competitors. While he did occasionally bash republicans, he also wasn’t immune from losing his cool when arguing with lefties. He’ll be dealing with a real snake pit in his new job, so it will be interesting to see whether he can bite his lip. A press secretary simply cannot go off on personal tangents.

Obviously the other factor is his existing relationship with the DC press. Since most in the press corps already considered Fox an arm of the White House before the announcement, this move surely solidifies that notion. Therefore, some mainstreamers might see this as an in-your-face act of war and retaliate accordingly. Bringing down Tony might could become a sport, especially since Snow has been promised a voice inside the White House inner circle.

And what of the other Snow? John has been a rumored short-timer since the Dubai Ports brouhaha and nothing has changed. At the time the criticism was based on his inability to get the message out about the economy–the man simply has ’stodgy CEO’ written all over him. Some in the party were reportedly frustrated that Bush hadn’t benefitted in the polls from the improving economy and that’s certainly still true–the daily message coming from the media continues to be the impending civil war in Iraq and spiralling gas costs.

Not sure a new treasury secretary nor press secretary can change that dynamic, but at this point a change can’t hurt.

The following article is an excerpt from our April issue. Have you subscribed yet to the leading conservative magazine in West Tennessee? Subscribe online, its safe and easy.

By Chuck Bates

When I first started this series of articles on MLGW my intent was to raise awareness and expose some of the cronyism and waste taking place at our local utility. What I did not know at the time is just how big a mess I would find. I have had the opportunity to interview past and present employees of the utility in an effort to answer the questions plaguing many ratepayers such as, just where does all that money go that we send to MLGW every month? What is that Purchased Gas Adjustment on our bills? Who decides what we are charged? I did find answers to those questions and in the process it opened up a whole new can of worms as to how badly mismanaged MLGW really is.

I learned that more than one department where the ‘brain trust’ had left, slots were being filled by folks who really have no training for those positions. This is not only an issue of lack of proper staffing in the rates or budget department but the new General Auditor of MLGW, the position responsible for double checking the other departments for accuracy and accountability, does not have any credentials with regard to internal auditing and actually transferred to the job from the Information Systems department, (that means computers to you and me). As a matter of fact she was chosen despite there being four more qualified internal staff with auditing or accounting credentials.

If you are wondering who is placing these folks in positions they may or may not have the training for you can look no further than the Human Resources department run by a fellow who was once rejected for the position by the MLGW board and later forced in by Joseph Lee. So essentially it would at least appear that Mr. Lee himself is running the ship in to the ground personally.

All of us remember Hurricane Elvis a couple of years ago. That one storm damaged or destroyed 80% of MLGW infrastructure. Despite such devastation the former leadership of the utility had the system back up and running in a few short weeks. This was an incredible feat. An unfortunate reality is that a similar percentage of the previous management has now left the utility or been forced out by the regime of Joseph Lee. (more…)

Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard were still wrapping up a two-day gig in Memphis last night as Shelby County hunkered down under a tornado warning.

Dylan’s Monday performance of “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” proved somewhat prophetic a day later just as he was launching into “High Water.”

Severe weather was about the last thing on the minds of the Tuesday night crowd, which enjoyed the show from the safely of their seats inside The Orpheum Theatre.

Haggard and the Strangers opened the show with several crowd-pleasers, songs with themes of hard drinking and table-top dancers. After having previously dedicated a song to “all the drunks” in the audience, Haggard introduced “Okie From Muskogee” apologetically, calling it his “anti-drug song.” He also changed a line from “Are the Good Times Really Over for Good” from “I wish coke was still cola and a joint was a bad place to be” to “…a good place to be.”

The audience rose to its feet for Dylan’s set, which was entirely different from Monday night except for the two encore songs: “Like A Rolling Stone” and “All Along The Watchtower.”

Dylan is a songwriting legend who has turned destroying his own songs into a new art form. In concert, Dylan will often limit his vocal range to two or three notes, chop up the lyrical tempo and stretch out his ballads until they are barely recognizable even by the most die-hard fan. But though his voice was a bit more gravelly than usual, Dylan was in rare form on Tuesday, performing classics such as “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” with more gusto than he has in several years.

As expected, both performers made a special effort to signal their opposition to the current White House. Haggard’s biggest cheer from the audinece came after he spoke a line about not worrying about “what Bush thinks.”

For his part, Dylan chimed in with a sharp rendition of “Masters Of War,” a song written in opposition to defense industry executives:

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

…

And I hope that you die
And your death’ll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand o’er your grave
‘Til I’m sure that you’re dead

With songs such as these, Dylan is still acclaimed as the poet of peace. But one only wishes that Dylan could reserve as much energy for stalking and haunting the Masters of Jihad, who apparently fly under his radar.

The same goes for Haggard. The Commercial Appeal reports:

Haggard… is dismayed by what he sees as the betrayal of the American public and military by the Bush administration and by what he perceives as a pervasive jingoism that silences anyone — including artists like the Dixie Chicks and Linda Ronstadt — who speaks out against the party line.

And yet, obviously, none of these people have been silenced. A packed crowd in Memphis, both days, pays tribute to that fact. Instead, those being silenced are the ones speaking to this generation’s troubles. Theo van Gogh, Flemming Rose and Hao Wu immediately come to mind. These are the Bob Dylans of today.

MORE: Further Bob analysis is up at Fishkite. Meanwhile, Smart City Memphis posts the lyrics to… you guessed it… and the Pesky Fly crew is cheering Merle Haggard.