Dick Cheney in Knoxville Today
November 15th, 2005 at 8:47 am by Preston Taylor HolmesIn a one-horse college town like Knoxville, it’s newsworthy when big-shot politicians come a-callin’ – especially when it isn’t even vote-buyin’ season.
Today, Vice President Dick Cheney will be speaking at Thompson-Boling Arena as part of a groundbreaking ceremony for the Howard Baker Center For Bureaucrats-in-Training at the University of Tennessee. The Veep’s speech is at 11 am, and I’m sure will be filled with the usual glad-handing bilge that usually flows forth from the yappers of big-shot politicos.
The event will be held at the Thompson-Boling Assembly Center and Arena on Baker’s 80th birthday. Security will be tight, but the public is invited to attend the event at 11 a.m.
Baker, a former U.S. senator, retired this year after four years as ambassador to Japan.
The new, 53,000-square-foot center will be on the corner of Cumberland Avenue and Melrose Place. It will feature a museum on Baker’s career and Tennessee politics, have a 200-seat auditorium, and offer classes and programs. It is expected to take two years to build.
The center was founded in 2003 and has sponsored programs for students, teachers and community leaders on topics such as energy policy, clean air, the U.S. Constitution, presidential history, civic engagement and careers in public service.
It’s about time we had an edifice that teaches young bureaucrat-wanna-bes how to grow up and be big bureaucrats. I’m just thankful it’s going to be so convenient to my sleepy little town.
This is one of those days when I wish I was unemployed so that I could go take pictures of the drooling idiots who will undoubtedly be shrieking hysterically from wherever the “Free Speech Zone” may be located.
There is no word on whether or not the Vice President will be taking Mary Cheney to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame during their brief visit to Knoxville, but I hear that the WBHOF staff is at the ready with a variety of collectables, WBHOF™ brand flannel shirts, K.D. Lang CDs and brand-new autographed Sheryl Swoopes motorized bobble-head dolls.
November 15th, 2005 at 4:58 pm
motorized bobble heads… where do you come up with this??? Hilarious!
November 15th, 2005 at 9:16 pm
Chip, I’m glad you’re out there. No one else seems to catch these stream-of-consciousness nuggets of hilarity. Just for that, you get a shiny new nickel.