A weekly sampling from some of Tennessee's best and brightest bloggers:

• 10,000 Monkeys and a Camera: Future game show host Tucker "whining drama queen" Carlson

• Andy Axel: Low Wake, plus Sex on the city

• BlountViews: Republican County mayor blasts local paper, liberal bloggers

• Enclave: Handicapping Nashville, plus: Mayor's community connecting disconnect

• Fletch: Blue Sky, plus Pelican launch

• KnoxViews: Report on Charlotte's light rail program, plus: Yet another Knox County sunshine lawsuit

• Lean Left: Iraqis denied political asylum

• Left Wing Cracker: Commentary on possible Kurita challenger and Jim Kyle's feud with her (money quote: Look, I know Kyle is still furious over this, but I have an answer for him: GO BEAT SOME REPUBLICANS AROUND THE STATE AND YOU CAN BE SPEAKER. It's as simple as that.)

• Loose TN Canon: Investigating the investigators, and A Huckabee theocracy

• NewsComa: Paid blogging gig therapy, plus Writer's strike update, bonus: Conversation with a CBS producer

• Pesky Fly: Is Trent Lott collateral damage?, plus a tribute

• Progressive Nashville: Why government is the solution, not the problem, plus Mexican Good Samaritan deported

• Resonance: The Winnebago Bellwether of the economy

• RoaneViews: "Why, in towns in which it is illegal to throw a snowball at a tree, is it legal to stand out in the middle of a five lane road and beg for money?"

• Russ McBee: Junk science in Texas plus, Not supporting the troops

• Sean Braisted: (at TennViews) Obama Nashville, plus Blog reboot in the works

• Sharon Cobb: Middle East peace talks dog and pony show

• Silence Isn't Golden: Tortured conservative logic, plus: BCS broken, time for a playoff system

Southern Beale: Memo To CNN: young women are not bimbos, plus Stuff I don't get (related 2005 article by R. Neal at Facing South)

• Tennessee Guerilla Women: Gee, thanks for the leadership Governor!, plus Fred Thompson: Lazy, arrogant, and grumpy, too.

• Whites Creek Journal: Uncalculated cost of war, plus How Evel got his nickname

• Women's Health News: Feminism and choice: The Business of Being Born

BONUS SECTION: GOP "Debate" Roundup

• 10,000 Monkeys and a Camera: "Really, I honestly tried to find something positive in tonight's debate. But this selection of white men all seemed either really mean, crooked, or simply insane (what's the deal with Ron Paul's secret NAFTA superhighway?)."

• Lean Left: Hate on display at GOP debate

• Carole Borges at KnoxViews: "All in all it was a night of tired looking old geezers taking cheap shots at one another. They remained myopically focused on the wearisome old Republican talking points, immigration, no tax increases, crime, guns, abortion, Christianity. Expected answers to expected questions."

• Sean Braisted (at TennViews): "I don't think I've ever been more proud to be a Democrat than between the hours of 7 and 9 (CST) when I watched the Republican candidates for the Presidency make a complete mockery of themselves and their party."

• Sharon Cobb: "Well, the good news is that when you vote in 08, there has never been a clearer choice between the Republicans and Democrats."

• GoldnI: "First of all, I think the Republicans proved once and for all that the term "Support the troops" really isn't anything more than a bumper sticker for them. Otherwise, how could you look a retired Brigadier General in the eye, someone who has defended the country for 43 years, and tell him that his service is somehow less worthy because of his sexuality?" And: "My original plan for the Debate Drinking Game was that you had to take a shot each time Giuliani referenced 9/11. Of course, if you did that then you wouldn't have made it to the first commercial break."

• Egalia: Rightwing Rage: Hillary Plants Gay 'Operative' In GOP Debate! Hillary Wins!, plus more
here, here, here, and here.

DOUBLE BONUS SECTION: Weakening Tennessee's Sunshine Law

• R. Neal at KnoxViews: It's pretty sad that elected officials have so much trouble understanding that they can't deliberate in secret and that the public's business must be conducted in public.

• Newscoma: "It’s not, as I’ve said 100 times, not about journalists. It’s about average citizens. It’s about things being discussed without input of government’s main boss."

• Progressive Nashville: "These recommendations undoubtedly weaken the current law and that's never a good thing when it comes to open government."

• Russ McBee: "This change would permit a level of corruption that would far surpass anything we've seen so far in our local legislative bodies, and that level of corruption is already unacceptably high.", plus: An eclipse of the Sun