Shots Across The Bow

Volunteer Tailgate Party

Welcome all to the Volunteer Tailgate Party. We hold it every two weeks, rotating among the members of the Rocky Top Brigade, a group of bloggers from Tennessee. We cover the spectrum from political commentary to fine arts, and everything in between. We count lawyers, homemakers, programmers, students, and artists among our members, and while we all share a Tennessee connection, our far flung membership extends from Canada to California, and from East Tennessee to Australia. But enough of my blather; follow the links below and enjoy some of the best of the Rocky Top Brigade. I'll meet you again when you're done.

• First up is Andrew from Pathetic Earthlings, who shares his thoughts the day after the Columbia broke up.

  For fifty years, engineers could tell us how to get to Mars. But people need to tell the politicians and the contractors why. If one good thing is coming out of Columbia and the loss of her crew, it’s that we're ready to tell our politicians: because we can, because it’s there, because we’re Americans.

• Next we have a Southern Belle by the name of deb at Sugarfused. Deb shares her dietary downfall, then cruelly tempts the rest of us to join her.
• Now we turn to sayuncle, who shares two entries. First, he condenses the conundrum of abortion, then has a brief discussion of The Agonist and plagiarism
• Next up is Barry, from Inn of the Last Home, who writes a nice piece about overly zealous Christians, who drive people away from the church with their high pressure recruitment.

  [O]ne's decision to become a Christian is always an internal one - you can't be baptized and become a Christian, anymore than taking communion or just attending church - it's a deliberate, personal decision. It can't be coerced, it can't be bargained for, it can't be threatened and it can't be bartered.

  Barry's links may not work (thank you blogspot) If the link fails, go here, then scroll down to April 14.
• Now we come to Rex Mundi of Damn Art Diary, an artist and teacher to be, who poses a biblical puzzle . Again, if blogspot misbehaves, go here and scroll down to Mysteries of the New Testament
• Next up is Troy, from Jaded Journal and Troy Sounds Off. Troy shares his feelings immediately after Sept 11, 2001, feelings that are relavent today, as we work towards building a new Iraq
• Our next contributor is manish from Damn Foreigner, who posts about SARS, and the near panic reaction
• Next we have the founder of the Rocky Top Brigade, an anonymous gentleman who goes by the name of South Knox Bubba. He favors us with a parody of the newly updated and expanded Patriot Act. At least, I think it's a parody. These days, who can be sure?
• And last is me, your friend and humble narrator, I'll leave you with this remembrance of Easters past, affectionately called Easter Eggs and Pump Organs

And that's all for this edition, folks. See you again in two weeks.