ON THE WEB * To view a website on Basil Marceaux’s gubernatorial candidacy, go to http://politics.freesitenow.com/basilmarceauxforgovernor * To watch Basil Marceaux’s comments on WSMV-TV got to: http://www.wsmv.com/video/24331764/index.html NASHVILLE — He is an improbable longshot in the polls, but Tennessee Republican gubernatorial hopeful Basil Marceaux Sr., of Chattanooga, rules on the Internet, where his views have gone “viral.” The candidate’s promise to “immune you from all state crimes for the rest of you (sic) life!” and his desire that “everyone carry guns” has proven to be catnip to an army of delighted Internet bloggers and irresistible to talk radio and MSNBC as well. He’s been endorsed by the hillbilly comedy duo Jackie Broyles and Dunlap on Red State Update. A Nashville Scene blogger proclaimed Marceaux an “Internet Superstar” and warned GOP front-runner Bill Haslam that there is a “mighty dark horse pounding toward you in the outside lane.” The website Wonkette told readers “you have a new 2010 election boyfriend” and urged them to “just look at his website. It is indescribably perfect. What can be made fun of first? We just want to live in this [more..]

By Ian Shuttleworth Published: July 25 2010 20:01 | Last updated: July 25 2010 20:01This is the summer of Howard Brenton. His socialist convictions may be less on view in his play about Anne Boleyn about to open at Shakespeare’s Globe, but they palpably inform both his adaptation of Robert Tressell’s novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (currently playing at Chichester) and his version of Georg Büchner’s 1835 play Danton’s Death. Büchner and Brenton’s Danton is the personification of the limits of legitimacy of the French Revolution: his execution in 1794 marked the Terror becoming as tyrannical and arbitrary as the ancien régime had ever been. The line between proto-socialism and authoritarian dictatorship is drawn in his blood.He is also the life principle of the Revolution: yes, he drinks and whores, but the play suggests that in this he demonstrates that the upheavals can improve people’s lives, as opposed to the arid virtue of Robespierre being an end in itself. It is not as silly as it sounds to observe that Robespierre gets none of the play’s laugh lines; Danton and his faction, in contrast, even summon up a vein of gallows humour about their own imminent death and bodily [more..]

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A 31-year-old London man was in critical condition Sunday after collapsing near the finish line in the New York City Triathlon, race officials said. The man’s name was not immediately released. Eleven other people were hospitalized, said Bill Burke, the race director, though none were believed to be seriously injured. Burke said the 12 hospitalizations were less than anticipated, given the sweltering weather. Temperatures in Central Park reached 90 degrees by midday Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. The triathlon consists of a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40-kilometer bike ride and a 10-kilometer run. The man in critical condition collapsed in the area of East 72nd Street on the edge of Central Park, about a quarter-mile from the finish line. The man was rushed to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, Burke said, where he was admitted in critical condition. He added that hospital officials believe the man may have suffered a seizure, which may or may not have been heat-related. The man was joined at the hospital by his brother, who race officials said they believed also competed in the triathlon; his sister-in-law; and a family friend. By late afternoon, the man was improving, Burke said, though a hospital [more..]

Story Discussion Journal Times staff | Posted: Saturday, July 17, 2010 11:34 pm | Loading… Font Size: Default font size Larger font size RACINE - John Heckenlively of Racine is still waiting to see if he can run against U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan for the 1st Congressional District seat. Heckenlively registered as a Democrat to run against the Republican congressman, but he was initially short on valid signatures; some who signed his nomination papers did not include the year when they signed their names, he said. He faxed papers to the Government Accountability Board on Friday, and on these papers the circulator verified that the nomination papers were signed this year, but the GAB said it needed to see the actual paper the circulator signed, not just a faxed copy, Heckenlively said. They should receive that on Monday, he said. On top of that, Heckenlively said he received mail Saturday informing him that the Republican Party of Wisconsin has challenged some of his nomination signatures. A state hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Heckenlively said. Posted in Local on Saturday, July 17, 2010 11:34 pm Updated: 11:36 pm. | Tags: John Heckenlively, Paul Ryan, Government Accountability Board, Republican Party Of Wisconsin Print Email [more..]

  A weekend full of events could cause traffic tie-ups in Seattle. Nearly 10,000 bicyclists are expected to leave Husky Stadium early Saturday for the annual Seattle-to-Portland (STP) bicycle ride. Another 2,000 will swim, ride and run in the Seafair Triathlon in and around Lake Washington on Sunday. And thousands more will crowd Seattle Center for the annual Bite of Seattle. Other Seafair celebrations expected to draw crowds include the Bon Odori Festival, the 25th Annual Indian Days Pow Wow and the Classic Hot Rod Show. On Sunday, the Seattle Sounders FC will host a "friendly" match against Celtic FC at Qwest Field.       [more..]

Could your backhand use a little help -- maybe from Venus Williams? If you're one of the girls or young women served by the YWCA Greater Los Angeles, you could be in luck.Williams announced that she's thinking about starting a sports program there; she'd be the resident tennis expert and would recruit her tennis doubles partner, younger sister Serena -- spotted Saturday at the New York wedding of Carmelo Anthony and Lala Vazquez -- to bat some balls around.  "I'm looking forward to getting involved and making a difference," the soft-spoken sports icon-author-designer told the crowd at the Y's benefit luncheon in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday. Williams came back to her hometown with her furry family in tow -- 3-year-old Havanese Harold "Harry" Reginald and two as-yet-unnamed puppies who came onboard a week ago -- to accept the Y's Phenomenal Woman of the Year Award "saluting women who change the game." As the Y's ebullient Chief Executive Faye Washington put it, Williams, the first African-American to be ranked the world's No. 1 tennis player in either the men's or women's game, "is one of the fiercest game changers on earth." [more..]