The Real Complete Truth About NSA Spying

Spying must always be denied - especially if one is not spying when it is often vital to claim instead you are spying.

And generally, whether spied upon or spying, both require the information gathered is limited and inaccurate. Operations which don't exist are perceived as ongoing and continuing. 

In short, spying and intelligence gathering is meant to fool you. 

So recent NSA spying news and narratives seems to be working hard to convince the world they can capture every email, phone call, internet history ... But that they are not. The Snowden Affair has a powerful impact since it could all be true, it could all be fake, it could be a sabotage ruse to insert a mole into China, Russia. etc 

We've all seen this movie and read this book of international espionage. Still though the tactics are familiar, we're now more into personal espionage. Individuals are missile targets now.

Nations - led by US policies - target individuals to battle, a world of arch villains, minions, and assets to pursue. All security is hackable. Social media brings cruelty and fakery, all kinds of folks play deception games, evidence of the casual approvals for spying and much more aggressive actions. James Bond is Everyman and we're at War.

I'm amused by the current TV show "Person of Interest" - where folks who have illegal access to a database of everyone's life and actions are using the info to protect those being observed and recorded. And there's the show "Blacklist" where a super genius villain helps the FBI fight crime and everyone in the cast may be a double or triple agent. We're all under surveillance and it's for our own good ... 

What intelligence agency would want to dispute having that reputation?

Rise of Animals In American Politics

In towns all across America, human politicians are being replaced by animals.

Sometimes, a cat holds mayoral office. But other critters are also running and winning. Given the pointless gridlock at the national level, average citizens are finding better solutions:

"In Rabbit Hash, Ky., a Border Collie named Lucy Lou defeated 10 dogs, a cat, a possum, a jackass and even one human to become the town's third animal mayor—all dogs—since 1998, says Bobbi Kayser, the current mayor's owner. The community of about 100 began electing animals as a way to raise money for upkeep of its historic buildings, charging a dollar a vote for as many votes as people wanted to make. About $22,000 was raised in the last election in 2008.

"It's like politics anywhere, but we're just more honest about it," says Ms. Kayser, 55."

The recent ridiculous shutdown effort took quite a toll, and the critters seized the day:

"The garden has been overtaken by squirrels, as well as the "newly arrived fox now making a home at the White House."

Palin Leads Republicans to Protest Their Own Support for Shutdown

The Bizarro World Republicans continue their assault on Amercan government, as noted at Knox Views and elsewhere.

Whatever goals these folks have remains elusive:

"Remember back when this government shutdown started and the Republicans had so many ambitions? They were going to defund ObamaCare, or at least delay the individual mandate for a year. They were going to introduce a “conscience clause” that would allow employers to deny their workers access to contraception. They were going to compel the administration to bypass the deliberative process at the State Department and preemptively license the Keystone XL pipeline. They were going to gut coal-ash regulations and expand offshore drilling. They were going to get fast track authority for tax reform legislation based on Rep. Paul Ryan’s principles. They were going to cripple the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and rip apart the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms. They’d means-test Medicare and finally get tort reform. They had these dreams and many more besides.

But where are we now?"

My own congressman, Phil Roe, head of the Tea Party Cacus, likewise continues to shoot out emails saying "I did not come to Washington to shut down the government ..." But that's what he has done.

1st District Candidate Challenges Rep. Phil Roe and Miley Cyrus

Incumbent 1st District Congressman Phil Roe is being challenged for re-election by another Republican, Dan Hartley, who blasted Rep. Roe during his campaign announcement, saying Roe is part of the "immoral mess in Washington."

Hartley's website offers his views on health care and the Affordable Care Act:

"So what do we do, Americans need health coverage, real health coverage, that they can afford? I believe a single payer system would work in this country, where as a Federal sales tax is added on to all purchases. This insures that everyone pays for the health care coverage including  those here illegally.  With this simple tax,  every single legal citizen would be covered.

No Premiums, no substandard care; no waiting in long lines to see your Doctor,;you get to choose who you see and you don't pay for prescriptions either.  Hospitals would have to compete for your business like any other business, an industry standard that has never been done."

Hartley also says something has to be done about Miley Curus too:

"Hollywood has been allowed to glamourize and promote dangerous decisions. Hartley maintains that lawmakers need to proceed with common sense to protect children from “too much, too soon” in the media. “The decision was made in the past to allow Hollywood to monitor itself, and now our children can see the vilest kind of pictures – even when just flipping through the channels,” Hartley said. “Parents say STOP, but lawmakers have been largely silent, choosing to look the other way. To those who say it isn’t that bad, as a father I say one name that makes my point: Miley Cyrus. The airways belong to the people,"

Carrying Guns OK, But Chickens Outlawed

In Appleton, WI, it is legal to carry guns in public, but carry around a chicken and you will be fined.

East TN Drive-In Goes Digital to Survive

The State Line Drive-In in Elizabethton is offering a free night tonight to celebrate the installation of a new $80,000 digital projection system, thanks to the many, many votes it received in a contest via Honda's Project Drive-In. For a moment it seemed all was lost.

I have mourned and still rue the loss of 35mm film projection as all theatre owners must either go digital or lose the ability to show new movies. Revival houses will, for now, still be able to run, but non-digital films will soon be available only from private archives. It's either digital or darkness.

I've had many fine hours at the Stateline - like that double bill one summer night for "Logan's Run" and "Demon Seed". I'm very happy this location will continue to run - most won't, like the Midtown Drive-In in Harriman.

Morristown Ranks As Least Expensive City In U.S.

The Wall Street Cheat Sheet gathered the info and reports that life here in little old Morristown, TN makes it one of the "8 Least Expensive Cities" in the nation.

I've lived here longer than I ever imagined or planned. It's in a pretty gorgeous spot of the Tennessee Valley, too. And though, again, not planned, my years as a semi-starving (but working) artist person have been allowed by the low cost of living (and wide-open opportunities in the arts).

I have learned too, though unmeasured by statistical metrics, the true treasure of living here has been the friends I've made. My thanks for them is likewise beyond measuring.

Check out the full list of cities here.

TN Republicans Blame You For Hunger, Poverty

What's the goal of TN Republicans in Congress who want to cut funding for Food Stamp programs?

Their argument makes little sense. The program they attack has fraud rates of less than 2%.

They refuse to challenge the fraud in subsidies to wealthy agri-business, where fraud is rampant.

States led by Republicans get a majority of Food Stamps, where their economic policies are failures.

What's the real goal of TN Republicans? 

Rep. Roe's Weak Alternative to Health Care Reform

With enrollment options for the Affordable Care Act set to start in just days, Congressman Phil Roe is pushing a very weak alternative idea from Republicans which fails to offer much reform at all. Where has Rep. Roe been for the last 4 years? 

He's been actively blocking most any idea Tea Party Republicans tell him to block. Crafting legislation to assist East Tennessee is not his priority. This last-minute bill he's touting is far too little and so very, very late.

As noted in this report, the alternative has major flaws:

"No overall cost estimates for the bill were available.

Officials said the legislation contains no provision to assure insurance coverage for millions of lower-income Americans who are scheduled under current law to be enrolled in Medicaid, a state-federal health care program for the poor.

Nor are there replacements for several of the requirements the current law imposes on insurance companies, including one that requires them to retain children up to the age of 26 on their parents’ coverage plan and another barring lifetime limits on coverage."

Frightmare Manor Opens Friday 13th

The daring folks at Frightmare Manor will be open for a very special Friday the 13th sneak preview of the Halloween Screampark which has become a twisted tradition of chills here in East Tennessee.

Creator Chris Wooden and his crew have spent the last year working on the 2013 season, and have brought together an army of ghostly and shadowy creatures to thrill those brave enough to visit Frightmare  Manor.

The nightmares start this Friday at 8 pm, and you can get discount tickets now via their website and keep up with all their tricks and treats at their Facebook page. 

And check back here on this blog as we are tracking down a rarely reported tale of the legend of Jeremiah Lexer, the notorious killer who once made the site if Frightmare Manor his home. Researching the arcane archives, I've found a story you won't believe!

Who knows where the ghouls of Frightmare Manor will pop up next!