County Audit Shows Fiscal Nightmare

It's astonishing how no details of the Hamblen County's fiscal situation emerge in the local press. Instead, the public is fed non-information, such as a recent article noting the achievements of the county's finance director. And the one county commissioner who bothered to point out the problems has essentially been chased out of office and isn't seeking re-election.

I'd bet the majority of local residents have no idea an election begins here April 12 with early voting and few of those who know could identify the candidates. Oh sure, the names may be familiar as the same crop of old hands arrives to make sure no more mention is made of the critical errors discovered by the state auditors.

County Commissioner Linda Noe, a Republican, has kept a faithful blog of the issues, Noe4Accountability, however, she was forced to end open comments after vague and not so vague threats were constantly made against her.

What did the recent audits - conducted at a lower cost to taxpayers - actually find? The county ranked Number One for the most findings in any county of the state. The fiscal problems affect nearly every branch of local government, including the sheriff's office and the director of schools.

Massive deficits are just the beginning. Take just a look at her most recent post on the county's fiscal status, though I urge you to go the her page and read all the information there - and then ask why are no current candidates talking about these issues and why does the local press ignore them?

"It's really funny to look at the dramatic change in audit findings that occurred when the county started using the state auditors in 2003. The 2002 audit (1 solitary finding by the local private auditors) and then the 2003 audit (29 findings by the state auditors with numerous sub-findings) and then the 2004 audit (15 findings and again numerous sub-findings by the state auditors). Click here for 2004 audit findings.

Looking at the audit history, I find it very hard to believe that the county was operating just fine in 2002 with a glowing audit (1 finding) from the local private auditors and then suddenly in 2003 the county was violating state law, not budgeting money as required by law, spending more money than was approved, not controlling purchases, not maintaining a general ledger, totally unaware that the county had to go by the state comptroller's "chart of accounts," and boom there are 29 findings by the state auditors. It just seems more likely that all these violations and irregularities were occurring in 2002 but "somehow" went unreported.

Moving on to the 2004 audit, there were 15 findings. One finding reported problems in making debt payments--or actually making a debt payment for a debt that the county didn't even owe. The audit reported that the county made an interest payment of $45,326 in December 2003 for a debt that was actually owed by the City of Morristown, not Hamblen County. The city finally reimbursed the county for all but $408 in June 2004. The 2004 audit reports that the $408 was still owed to the county as of the audit report date.

There were major purchasing deficiencies. The Mayor's Finance Department apparently selected an employee to serve as a purchasing agent, but the agent didn't keep control over purchase orders. Blank purchase orders were just handed out to departments, so nobody knew what was being purchased (or how much had been spent) until after the bill arrived.

There were no employment work records for certain "exempt" county employees. County departments over the years had increasingly allowed more and more employees to be considered "exempt" employees. The "exempt" employees were salaried and didn't have to keep any time sheets. The state auditors said that all employees should be required to keep a record of time worked. They also pointed out that since vacation time was not tracked in some instances, "(exempt) employees [] obtain[ed] a higher benefit rate than the non-exempt (hourly) employees."

There were deficiencies in controls over travel. Apparently, nobody required an itemized receipt for meals paid with credit cards, so the county didn't know what it was paying for. It appears that the receipt total was submitted and paid without an itemized detail.

There were severe deficiencies in budgeting. The budgeting deficiencies were very important and included five different items (A-E)---four of which are discussed here.

(A) Despite state law, the audit states that the County Mayor didn't even present a budget to commission (and so didn't get approval to spend money) for certain funds (such as the sheriff's special revenue fund). Some budgets were brought to commission, but others weren't.

(C) The Finance Department overspent the legally approved spending amounts in several funds: the General Fund, the Highway Fund, the Special Debt Fund, the General Debt Fund, and the Hospital Debt Fund. If spending limits for county funds are going to be ignored, what's the purpose in going through a long, drawn-out budget process? And this occurred in 2003 as well--for example, the 2003 audit says that spending exceeded appropriations in the General Fund in amounts ranging from $737 all the way up to $296,964.

(E) There were huge budgeting problems. The beginning fund balance estimates provided to commissioners during the budget process were way off. Estimates of fund balance are estimates, but the auditors apparently think (and so do I) that county financial officials should be able to get at least reasonably close to the real figure.

When the county was preparing its '04 budget in July 2003, county financial officers estimated and told commissioners that the beginning fund balance for the general fund was $697,526 when it was really only $208,870. The Commission was told that the fund balance for the solid waste (garbage) fund was $56,265 when the fund really had a deficit balance of ($205,578). In an understatement, the auditors added: "County officials should better estimate the beginning fund balance when adopting the budget."

I've mentioned this problem several times at meetings because this is critical financially. If county officials can't come up with at least a close estimate of what's in the bank (fund balance), then it's no wonder that there is overspending and no one really knows what the county has or exactly where it's going.

(D) Finally, the audit also reported a finding where the County Mayor instructed the Finance Department to transfer money ($89,986) from the General Fund to the General Capital Projects Fund and to transfer money ($274,730) from the General Debt Fund to the General Capital Projects Fund without the required approval of county commission.

County commission not only never approved the transfers, but county commission apparently wasn't even told that the transfers were being made or that payments totalling $360,000 had been made in error for years.

In response to this finding, the Mayor told the auditors that he talked with the trustee and finance director (but not county commission) and then instructed his Finance Department to make the transfers to "restore" the accounts to what county commission had actually approved "over the years." It turns out that these wrong payments totalling over $360,000 included spending errors going all the way back to June 15, 1999 and continuing up to June 9, 2004.

It looks like the Capital Projects Fund was being used for over five years to pay for things that should have been paid out of the County's General Fund or the County's Debt Fund. In 2004, the Mayor talks with two county officials (but not to county commissioners) and instructs them to switch everything back around.

Why such secrecy--to the point that county commissioners didn't even know that $360,000 had been moved around until they read about it in the audit? Why did no one explain to county commission what had happened and then ask for the required approval to make the transfers?

That's just from one posting. Part One of her report is here. The uninformed voters of the county and the misinformed can expect to see the old reliable behind-closed-doors method of government return. I doubt 15% of registered voters will bother to participate in this upcoming election - that would be just about double the amount of city voters in Morristown who turned out for the last city election.

If the community has abandoned all hope of having their voices heard, then that is exactly what will happen - a community which sees no choice, no help and no representation.

Bush and the Ever-Changing Law

Some really sloppy writing in the blogworld and the Neo-Conservative world (all fascism and fantasy) can't seem to be able to handle the revelation of the origins of the press leak revealing the identity of a CIA operative. On the other hand, as collected by Nashville Is Talking, other bloggers CAN see this shuffling presidential dance to defend itself from a confusion of their own misinformation.

Remember that press briefing where President W. said "if there was a leak, they'd investigate it's origins and those who did it would be held responsible"? Check out this Theatre of the Absurd press briefing from Sept. 2003 regarding the Plame case, where Press Secretary McClellan says:

"There has been absolutely nothing brought to our attention to suggest any White House involvement. All we've seen is what is in the media reports."

So if the indicted V.P. aide Scooter Libby (heh heh, Scooter) testified that the VP Cheney told him that President W. said to release the info and therefore "declassified the information" - then why the hell has federal prosecutor Fitzgerald been led to think by the Prez and his crew that the info was NOT declassified?

From today's WaPo:

"According to Fitzgerald, Libby testified before a grand jury that President Bush and Cheney authorized the release of that information shortly before Libby's meeting with New York Times reporter Judith Miller on July 8, 2003. The information was drawn from the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate prepared by the CIA about Iraq's interest in weapons of mass destruction.

But 10 days later, McClellan told reporters at the White House that the estimate had been "officially declassified today" -- July 18, 2003 -- making no mention of the earlier declassification that Libby described in his sworn testimony. If that statement was correct, reporters pointed out, then the material was still classified at the time Libby disclosed it.

[White House Press Secretary] McClellan yesterday declined to give a detailed explanation for the contradiction, explaining that the White House never comments on pending investigations. But he also tried to clarify his 2003 remarks to reporters, stating that what he meant on July 18 of that year when he said the material had been declassified that day was that it was "officially released" that day.

"I think that's what I was referring to at the time," he said."

Even President W. hisself called the "leaking" of info to the press a "shameful act" via Martini Republic. Um, that is, unless it serves the political purpose of discrediting officials who challenge the policies of a dangerously fumbling administration.

Confused? I do believe that has been this administration's policy.

Camera Obscura - The Monkey's Melancholy

I admit here at the beginning - I've loved adventure and fantasy and science fiction movies since my first experience in a movie theatre. I was four and the movie, as hokey as it sounds, the movie was "Mary Poppins." But to my wee eyes and barely-begun brain, I was transported to a world where you could jump into and through a chalk drawing on a sidewalk and dance with the fantastic. The movie half-terrified me, as simply everything and every influence of that nefarious nanny took the children into and through worlds of imagination and adventure. But I was hooked.

Back in the early 90s, I found a few movies from a director out of New Zealand named Peter Jackson and in each of his weird and twisted comedy-horror-sci-fi adventures, I saw a filmmaker who soon would no longer be an obscure oddity, but a an international hit. I was right - or rather, he was right, about all his instincts of filmmaking as he showed in the mammoth worldwide hit adaption of the "Lord of the Rings" novels.

But even I was skeptical of his plan to redo "King Kong." And this week I finally saw it. If you haven't and especially if you think you wouldn't like this kind of fantasy, then I highly recommend it to you. Jackson manages not only to reveal how inspirational the original was to his imagination, he draws you into a story about the brutal and poignant struggle for survival in both breathtaking and heartbreaking scenes.

Wisely, Jackson starts his version in the heart of 1933, the New York streets filled with homeless and the starving as Al Jolson sings "I'm Sitting On Top Of The World." In a skeezy vaudeville hall, aspiring actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) a battered and beaten crowd barely applauds, and backstage, her only friend, an aging performer, speaks to the fact that this theater is dying off, and when it closes the next day, he gently informs her, she's on her own and must figure out survival on her own.

Much at the same time, producer/director Carl Denham (Jack Black) is fighting with studio heads for the survival of his latest movie. He is all bluster and showmanship and short-tempered, refusing to accept defeat. His decision is to escape from his backers aboard a ship as yet unpaid, steal some movie cameras and force his way into making SOMETHING, some new product that will attract paying customers. When he sees the famished actress Darrow (first shown in a window along with his own reflection), he spins a wild tale to talk her into taking the journey for his mostly imaginary project.

The reason Jackson begins his movie with these scenes is to begin laying the groundwork for the real center of his new version - the search for more than subsistence survival.

Even the crew of his mostly hijacked ship "Venture" have vivid characterizations, unspoken intentions and fears and likely, judging by the weapons later hauled up from the ship's storage, they are gunrunners. One shipmate is reading "Heart of Darkness" and at one point notes to his friend, "This isn't an adventure story, is it?"

Using an ancient and dubious map detailing the location of "Skull Island", the producer and crew are literally hurled upon fog-shrouded, giant jagged stones which threaten to tear the ship to shreds. From here on, this movie unleashes a fury of action-packed sequences as they enter an unknown world populated by islanders who themselves seem to be on the verge of extinction. Who knows how many generations of these rocky cliff dwellers have witnessed horrors hidden by a mammoth wall running across the island - though an apparent shaman woman points to the blonde and fair Darrow with designs of using her for ... something.

Certainly the original and the 1977 remake imply a sexual tension between the Actress and the Beast called Kong. However, in this version, almost immediately the two connect on a more emotional level - they are abandoned in hostile worlds with no friends, no help and small chance of survival. It's when the Actress tries to distract Kong with some of her old funny vaudeville scenes that the massive creature laughs and something very much akin to friendship in a deadly world of imminent extinction emerges. This is made more evident as the Actress stumbles across the remains of other giant apes, implying Kong is likely the last of his kind, a subtle sign that this Beast is utterly alone and without hope - much the same feelings of the Actress view of herself.

While the Producer hauls his camera in hopes of capturing something he can sell, the crew attempts to rescue the Actress. Jaw-dropping action follows as Kong battles creatures drawn from the original film and from many pulp adventure stories most common in the 1930s. Lost in a maze of murderous creatures and savage horrors, Kong and the Actress do survive, and seek refuge on a cliffside where Kong, despite his animalistic origins, seems to find both beauty and peace. That same moment is shared more tragically again as the pair find themselves stuck high atop the Empire State Building.

But you don't need a degree in film studies for this movie to sweep you up and carry you away. If you allow Jackson to take you on this voyage through imagination and loss, you'll find a movie you'll want to see more than once.

Also of note, a major difference in the original and this version, Ann Darrow does not participate in the public humiliation and exploitation of the captured Kong. The literally both flee their trappings in the booming city and seek each other out as common souls, lost souls who have no other bonds of friendship.

A review by Carina Chocano in the L.A. Times sums it nicely :

"A travelogue through popular movie genres, it passes from socially conscious drama to comedy, romance, horror, adventure, science-fiction fantasy and doomed love story, cleverly quoting the styles and tropes to which we've become accustomed along the way. A movie about the movies, and specifically an exploitation picture about exploitation pictures, Jackson's "Kong" is also a witty comment on the darkness at the heart of adventure stories, a bazillion-dollar spectacle that reserves the right to question the morality of spectacles, and, mostly, a tender love story about a melancholy girl and her tragically misunderstood monkey."

Update on "Secret Ethics Meeting"

Other media - print and television and bloggers - have also begun raising questions about an "investigation" led by state Senators Southerland and Haynes. Learn more here.

And here is my previous post about the issue.

Who Watches the Watchmen?

As Don Rumsfeld once put it about The New Iraq, there are "known unknowns". That's a pretty good picture of the confusion and corruption about just how much oil is being made and sold in The New Iraq. From this link via MetaFilter, the unknown continues to expand:

"Iraq’s oil exports hit another post-invasion low in December and January, according to the Oil & Gas Journal. How do they know? Good question: according to Reuters, production and exports have gone unmetered since the Coalition Provisional Authority took over the country following the 2003 invasion; until new meters are installed, everybody’s just guessing.

Among the best chronicles of the haziness surrounding Iraq’s oil production and exports — and the general pall of corruption that hangs over the country — comes from journalist Ed Harriman, writing in the July, 2005 issue of the London Review of Books. Harriman wrote that in addition to the roughly $9 billion in Iraqi oil funds that vanished without a trace during CPA head Paul Bremer’s reign, the International Advisory and Monitoring Board established to oversee and audit CPA expenditures of Iraqi cash “discovered that Iraqi oil exports were unmetered.”

How long until someone actually starts an accurate accounting, or "metering"? Maybe two years. That's what Rumsefeld would call an "unknown unknown". For now, The New Iraq is paying about $6 billion a year to import oil.

Remember when the war began and we got these details:

Once U.S. troops entered Iraq, special combat teams spread out into the oil fields and occupied key installations. In fact, the very first operation of the war was a commando raid on an offshore loading platform in the Persian Gulf. "Swooping silently out of the Persian Gulf night," an over-stimulated reporter for the New York Times wrote on March 23, "Navy Seals seized two Iraqi oil terminals in bold raids that ended early this morning, overwhelming lightly armed Iraqi guards and claiming a bloodless victory in the battle for Iraq's vast oil empire."

Quote of the Day

From Tennessee Senator Bill Frist, leader of the Senate, on pushing thru immigration reform, made during a recent "phone call conference" with reporters:

"Frist said most of the Senate's discussion and differences are focused on the temporary worker program.

"There are two aspects," he explained. "One is the true temporary worker program whereby people could come here with the intent of working for a period of time and then going back home. That would apply to agricultural workers, construction workers or hospitality workers - the sort of workers we know are coming and going.

"The other temporary worker component is the 12 million people who are here. That's where the debate really is ... it's not realistic today to send that whole 12 million people back where they came from."

Frist said he doesn't know how many illegal immigrants are in Tennessee.

I bet he DOES know how many votes he needs to win the first presidential primary battle in 2008.

Sen. Southerland's Secret Ethics Meeting

Some elected officials in state government still just don't get it. Critical issues of credibility and accountability are left by the wayside, and instead we get legislative passage of a bill demanding public school students say a Tennessee Flag pledge. Minor reforms to influence peddling get lip service and then it's back to business as usual.

Secret meetings and bypassing laws of openness are still in operation in the legislature. The state senator here in the First District - covering Hamblen, Greene, Cocke and part of Unicoi counties - Republican Steve Southerland, was named on a special panel investigating Sen Jerry Cooper, and as noted in today's Tennessean editorial, the action was an insult to meaningful reforms. Also, as Chaplain of the Senate's Republican Caucus, his actions are even more troublesome.

"After Operation Tennessee Waltz rocked the state last year, Tennesseans were promised a serious, transparent process for investigating ethical lapses in government.

Despite months of debate and a special legislative session, there is no evidence that the legislature intends to keep that promise.

Consider the case involving Sen. Jerry Cooper, D-Smartt. The 1999 sale of Cooper's sawmill was the focus of charges lodged in July against an Alabama couple who bought the mill and a real estate appraiser involved in the transaction. They were charged with fraud and money laundering, accused of inflating the property's value at the time of the bank loan. The couple pleaded guilty yesterday.

The indictment also says that an unindicted co-conspirator, widely known to be Cooper, "used his political contacts, connections and influence" to help obtain the bank loan.

Last August, the Senate Ethics Committee met privately to consider whether Cooper's involvement in the deal amounted to an ethics violation. Specifically, the committee was looking at whether Cooper unduly used his influence to get a state grant and a federal loan for the property. The panel surfaced and declared it wouldn't pursue an ethics case against Cooper.

Two weeks later, Senate Majority Leader Ron Ramsey, who chairs the Ethics Committee, said the initial probe didn't go deep enough and that an investigation would soon be launched. On Oct. 12, the ethics committee asked two members — Sens. Joe Haynes and Steve Southerland — to interview Bill Baxter, former Economic and Community Development director, about the grant.

In mid-November Baxter told a reporter for this newspaper that he hadn't been contacted by the senators. He also said that when Cooper sought support for the grant, the senator didn't mention his personal involvement, couching the request as being beneficial to the community.

Last week, Southerland and Haynes— who deliberated behind closed doors delivered a letter to Ramsey saying they had found no "probable cause" that Cooper violated ethics rules. Haynes told a reporter that the subcommittee didn't have to meet publicly because it was dealing with an investigation.

The state's public meetings law has exceptions for security and for the proposed impeachment of a public official. There is no exception for investigations. Moreover, the investigation into a possible ethical breach by a lawmaker should top the list of meetings that demand to be open to the public.

Cooper's conduct may or may not constitute a breach of ethics conduct. There is far less doubt, however, about the Senate Ethics Committee's handling of the matter. Its foot-dragging and secret meetings are proof that it has no intention of giving ethics probes involving its own members the serious treatment they deserve."

I agree. And if you are a resident here in the First District, you should contact the Senator and tell him this relentless secrecy is wrong and unethical. You can contact him by email, phone or regular mail via this link.

If we don't demand accountability, it will never occur.

Prison Inmate Also EMA Employee

Here's a story that grabbed my attention today. Seems a TN prison inmate was hired last March as a purchasing agent for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, and got higher-than-normal pay, a free cell phone and even a state vehicle.

Seems an anonymous tip to the state's Correction Department opened a few eyes to the case and the inmate's state job "abruptly ended". The Tennessean paper has the full story - which raises far more questions than answers about some of the policies of the state's work-release program.

While I certainly applaud programs to help former inmates find employment, the key word is "former". I had no idea an inmate still serving time could be hired by any agency, much less the TEMA, which coordinates statewide responses to natural disasters and Homeland Security issues.

Some info in the news report revealed:

"TEMA is part of the state Military Department, headed by state National Guard chief Maj. Gen. Gus Hargett Jr. His son, Tre' Hargett, is a state representative from Bartlett, the Memphis suburb where Erickson had a law practice at the time he hatched the murder plot.

Tre' Hargett said he knew Erickson's name but was not familiar with him. "I don't think he was real active in the community," he said Friday.

Gus Hargett declined through a spokesman to be interviewed for this story.

However, the general did write a letter on Feb. 23, 2005, to Personnel Commissioner Randy Camp arguing for a special exemption to compensation guidelines so that Erickson could be paid more than his job classification, administrative services assistant 2, would normally warrant.

Hargett praised Erickson's previous work for TEMA, initially doing maintenance on its radiological detection devices and later working in its logistics unit.

"Mr. Erickson has a Bachelor's Degree in Social Justice with an emphasis on English," Hargett wrote. "He also acquired his Juris Doctorate and previously owned his own business named The Erickson Law firm, where he practiced Real Estate Law.

Prior to owning his own business, he worked for The Law Firm of W. Terry Edwards, where he assisted with real estate closings and other related paperwork.

"Due to the amount of responsibility placed upon this position, coupled with Mr. Erickson's education, this department feels justified in requesting the aforementioned salary range," the general wrote.

Camp approved the extra pay, according to a document in Erickson's personnel file.

Nowhere in the letter did the general mention that Erickson was a prison inmate, had a felony conviction, had tried to kill his wife to get insurance money or had surrendered his law license when he pleaded guilty."

One Soldier Leaves Iraq - Welcome Home!!

I received some excellent news Friday about the mess in Iraq - one of the many friends I have serving there is coming home. Travis' experiences were shared with the world of readers via his blog Travis In Iraq (see the link over on the right). Like many soldiers, some days were very dangerous and some were spent safely. His unfailing humor and wit, his friendships, and the often surreal nature of military service are evident in his blog. The picture above has Travis in the center surrounded by some kids - many of his posts are about the good the soldiers provide and some are about the constant danger all our troops endure.

Here are a few excerpts from his posts of March 30th and 31st:

"Oh how the anticipation builds.... This is to be my last night in the great city of Mosul. Tomorrow I fly out for the final time, hopefully to never return, but I am wise enough in my years to never say never!"

-----
"I am going to miss a lot of the guys I have had the pleasure of working with, some more than others, and some not at all, haha, that's just the truth of things. I will really miss my interpreter Bob, he was the coolest and I owe him a lot. He just got married, so I want to wish him the best, hopefully he'll get out of the Interpreter business and do something a little less dangerous so he can spend more time with his new wife and get a family started.

I have had a tremendous experience in Iraq, some you have read about on this blog, some only a select few have heard from me in person, and some I'll probably never speak of again, but that is how things go in this business. I feel I have grown a lot as a person and have a better perspective on life, especially on just how precious it is. I have learned we have it made in America. Our only problem is we like to bitch and moan and cry a lot!!! Myself included, but after seeing what I have seen, I think I will cut down on most of that. I have realized when our biggest dissappointment of the day is when the drive thru at McDonalds screws up our order or the waitress doesn't fill up our drink exactly when we would have liked for her too, then things really aren't that bad."

-----
"Quite a few of you have asked me what I am going to do with my blog once this is over. Will I keep it going with the regular day to day happenings of my life or will I shut it down? I have decided that after the coming home party my Mom throws me that I am going to discontinue updating "Travis in Iraq", cause that book will be complete. I am not going to delete it, I will leave it up for anyone who wants to go back and read or re-read my tales or look at the various pics I have posted over the last ten months. Don't worry though, I plan on starting a new blog chronicling the next adventure of my life and you will all be invited to visit there as well.

Well I have to get going and pack up some boxes I want to mail home so I don't have to drag them around with me. Take care and keep reading, the next few weeks should be quite interesting.

Peace to All,

Travis C. Stuart

I imagine his mom and the rest of his family and close friends must feel enormous relief. And since he plans on leaving his blog in place, I urge you to read through it - there are some amazing tales there and some of his unique humor too. It may take you some time to read through it all, but you can learn much about him and his brothers-in-arms.

Welcome home, Soldier. And as you said, Peace to All

NASCAR Meat, NASCAR Love, and NASCAR Saws

There is no point in attempting to make an April Fool's Day joke on a blog, not when the real world offers such voluminous amounts of goofy truths. Take the newly emerging and growing line of NSACAR-themed items headed your way.

Hungry? Get ready to race to the store and get ya some NASCAR meat. (Which reminds me, once, many years ago, an Improv Comedy group I worked with tried in vain for months to complete a skit about French speed-eating contest called Nascargot. Just never worked, even with names of the potential hosts like Guy Wallace and Yves Harvick.)

Feeling romantic? Get ya some NASCAR romance novels.

And maybe the next horror movie to hit the big time will be called "The NASCAR Chainsaw Massacre."

Read all about these items here. (via Boing Boing)

And if you still prefer some fine April Fool's Day fun, my fave arrives with the headline "Breaking News: President Bush Resigns" and details how VP Cheney is sworn in at the Fox News studio.

Camera Obscura - Tarantino to Cronenberg

Today's topic tackles two of my favorite filmmakers - both accused of visceral excesses and both capable of crafting stories that will not leave your thoughts, long after the movie is over. And not the way, say the Larry the Cable Guy movie might haunt you - trailing you like an oafish, unwashed, relative who won't leave and forever turns your couch into an anti-life Aroma Zone. No, this post is about filmmakers with Talent.

Unless I missed some small mention, the Knoxville community seemed to ignore the birthday this week of one of their native sons - one who has been a prolific writer, director and likely one of the most notable and some might say controversial filmmakers of the last decade. While living only a short time in East TN, he captures much of the voices of other ET writers, like Agee or Cormac McCarthy. The dialog is raw, plain and realistic and crimes and passions are often motivated by quests, however illusory, for a better life. Good and Bad are relative terms.

On Monday, Quentin Tranantino turned 43, and the only mention I caught was on the "Writer's Almanac." I'd heard various biographical details before about him - his work as a videostore clerk, his manic personality - but some items I had not heard before, as the Almanac noted:

" ... he hated school so much that he dropped out after ninth grade. He got a job as an usher at a pornographic movie theater and started taking acting classes. He taught himself screenwriting by writing from memory screenplays of movies he'd already seen. Whatever he couldn't remember he just made up. These screenplays eventually turned into his own original work, and he realized that he'd rather be a filmmaker than an actor."
-----
"Tarantino said, "I steal from every movie ever made."


After much-too-long a wait, I finally got to see a movie this week by another prolific and challenging filmmaker, David Cronenberg, the Academy Award nominated "History of Violence." This Canadian writer and director earned his chops with a host of horror movies that remain as chilling and disturbing as they day they were released. From "Shivers" to "Rabid", "Scanners," "The Brood," "Videodrome," "The Fly, "The Dead Zone," and others, he consistently followed themes of nightmarish quality about intimacy, relationships, celebrity, and technology.

However, more of his recent efforts have been focused on characters and not nasty nightmares. In "Crash" and "Spider" his stories were made for maximum effect by exploring humanity or the lack of it, of the Outsiders who search for some kind of tentative cooperation with normalcy.


"A History of Violence" may be his masterwork. And as a true bonus, the commentary and behind-the-scene features on the DVD are worthy of great educational value to would-be filmmakers and those just curious as to how a movie is made and how artistic vision is brought to life. It's by far the most intelligent director commentary I've ever experienced via DVDs.

The story comes straight from the old John Wayne/Glenn Ford school of Heroics - the right to defend the Home and the Family. Expertly cast with Viggo Mortensen as a small-town owner of a diner and Maria Bello as his loving wife, their world is shattered when brutal criminals attempt to rob his diner and endanger his customers. In pure street brawl fashion, Viggo, as Tom Stall, kills the criminals. The town and the media hail him as a hero. Even his somewhat bullied son, Jack, gains admiration and inspiration from Tom's defense. And then a trio of ugly thugs arrive at Stall's Diner led by actor Ed Harris and casually accuse him of being just another mobster on the lam, that "Tom" is an impostor.

Cronenberg deftly restrains his style to create characters that seem both believable and doubtful at once. The violence escalates, and it always seems to be justified ... unless, perhaps, Tom isn't really Tom at all. And that doubt begins to rattle the All-American home of Tom and his wife to their foundations.

I won't reveal more, but in addition to the Academy Award nomination for supporting actor William Hurt, Viggo should have gotten a nomination as well. It also earned a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay and many critics place the movie as one of the best of the 2005.

Worth mentioning too is the utterly wordless finale as Tom and his family sit down to dinner. It's one of the most powerful and emotional scenes I've seen in years.

Cronenberg's comments from the movie's web site (as well as the many unspoken themes in the movie itself) offer some insight into how carefully he crafted this work, how deeply involved the actors and tech crews were in collaborating to make this unique and impressive work. You'll want to watch it twice, perhaps more, especially after you hear Cronenberg's comments.

Violence can be justified - but can it be endured?

Oh and one more quickie here before I end - along with the fine folks at Atomic Tumor, the movie I most want to see in coming months is what appears to be a brilliant adaption of Phillip Dick's classic "A Scanner Darkly," filmed with a new style of real film and animation - check out the latest preview here.

Guns and Peanut Butter

The Tennessee Dept of Corrections issued a press release this week to announce they will ban jars of peanut butter for jail inmates. The story got some minor press coverage, though not one single reporter thought to ask to most important questions about this case.

The trouble, according to TDOC, is that inmates were using the 18 ounce containers to hide guns, drugs, cell phones, clothes, etc. In fact, last year's bloody jail escape and murderous shoot out enacted by George Hyatte in August occured after he used one-such smuggled cell phone to coordinate his deadly escape on his way to court in Knoxville with the aid of his girlfriend.

All press reports note that inmates purchased these large jars of peanut butter through a jail commissary. So, then, since inmates don't usually store guns, cell phones and drugs in their cells, SOMEONE had to put those items in the jars before they were purchased by inmates. SOMEONE in, say, a jail commissary -- but no word on corrective actions taken against the operations of a commissary. Just no more giant jars for the inmates. Currently TDOC says some 4,600 jars are in stock, but will be replaced .... soon.

"Most Idiotic Song Ever" - NOT

Not to knock down a fellow-blogger, but Glen Dean's rant about a song he calls the most idiotic ever, the John Lennon tune, "Imagine", has me puzzled. Even in his comments section, which is properly filled with debate, Dean admits his fave band is the Grateful Dead, and as far as goofy lyrics go ... well, let's just call some of them goofy and leave it at that.

But I can of think of many other tunes to qualify as idiotic - "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies or that "Mmm-bop" song by them little Hanson boys. And I personally find great irony that Dolly Parton's song about breaking off her ties with Porter Waggoner, "I WIll Always Love You", is now most often heard during a wedding.

But I digress.

Here's what Glen says:

"There has never been, nor will there ever be a song this idiotic. Every verse is stupid, but the final verse takes the cake.

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

Sounds like a typical fantasy for an egalitarian commie like Lennon, nothing to work for, nothing to stand up and fight for, nobody having any more than anybody else. After all, nobody deserves more. No wonder they played this song at the UN.

I don't understand why society made Lennon out to be some kind of peace activist. Peace has never been achieved by sitting around and imagining that there is no religion, no heaven or hell, and no bad people in the world. We are free today because of soldiers, sailors, and marines, men and women who sacrificed their lives so that we could live in peace. Freedom was fought for, not dreamed about."

Society did not make Lennon a peace activist - he did it himself, along with help from Yoko Ono - by expressing to the press in multiple interviews that he thought the Vietnam War was wrong and should end. He called in the international press on his honeymoon so they would report that he and his new bride were holding a "bed-in" to protest the war. The event was worldwide news. And then there was the song, "Give Peace A Chance" which he wrote intentionally as an anti-war anthem.

The US at the time labled him an "activist" and tried for years to keep him out of the country, especially since many millions of people were joining him in protesting the war. It was a case which the US goverment ultimately lost.

Sounds kinda like an "activist" to me.

And then there is that artistic metaphor of the tune itself - first, you have to be able to conceive, to imagine a world which you then work to make a reality through your actions. And history shows that from the sit-down strikes of Ghandi to the non-violent resistance of Martin Luther King Jr. that "sitting" and "stopping" can in fact cause revolutionary change.

And again, speaking personally, the song never expressed a rejection of religion or money, but rather an endorsement in the power of the individual to create a better world - a brotherhood created out of a realization that we can all change our lives for the better if we wish it and act to be inclusive and not divisive. It expresses to me that each person can do much to determine the reality of the world around us - but that action is preceded by vision, imagination, and viewing the world outside of the status quo.

Freedoms often must be fought for, sung about, talked about and I dare say the writers of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution began by "imagining" a world where religion and government were not the authority of humans - that instead we are all Free to be self-determining.

As for "imagining" there were "no heaven or no hell" - to me that meant that we are accountable in this world first for the way we live. So perhaps the here and now is the place to begin making a better world, not out of fear of some future Judgement, but from a desire to make the world we live in more humane and compassionate.

And this post isn't meant to defame Dean - thank God he is Free to write as he wishes. And so am I.

The Missing Android and The Cellborg

Somewhere out in the world today is the head of a robot and no one is quite sure where it might be, and even stranger, the robot itself was based on the likeness of a man who often feared that he might one day be replaced by a robot which would be convinced that it was real and that the real man was a fake. In fact, much of the writings of the late Phillip K. Dick focused on the nature of reality and the rise of technology. The android created was "touring" the country and the head ... just ... went missing.

This tale was odd enough to begin with - the android's memory was loaded with the writings of PKD himself, so you could ask "it" questions and "it" would respond with PKD's own words. Biometric ID software allowed the fake PKD to recognize faces, interpret body language and expression which then led to the responses it gave to those who spoke to "it."

And now it's just ... out there, somewhere. Was it a planned escape? Is It pondering what to do next? It It writing It's first novel or short story? Is It plotting an organized android revolution? Makes me feel trapped in one of the original PKD's books.

Biological humans seem, as PKD predicted, to be searching for more and more ways to computerize their bodies. A new trend among 20-somethings is to buy a home kit and do self-implants so they can use their hands to interact with the world without touching anything. They call themselves "taggers" and use the implants to gain access to VIP clubs, use it open locked doors, as password protection for computer systems or add it to clothing so it emits light and link with GPS systems to keep them from getting lost, I suppose. Too bad no one put one such tracker in the missing robot head. And what happens if your implant also has your debit/credit card info - could you walk through a store, leave, and later find yourself charged for thousands of dollars in purchases simply by walking down an aisle filled with chip-filled goods??

At a recent conference on the ever-growing use of nanotechnology - structures made on the scale of atoms and molecules, for example a human hair is 100,000 nanometers wide - the Future looks paved with tiny nano-bots. These micro-machines are already at use in cosmetics, paint, fabrics, building materials, medicine and more. The U.S. government is expected to spend $6 billion on such research this year and the private sector likewise will spend about $6 billion on these products this year as well.

This week, researchers have announced success in fusing brain cells with computer chips that are about 1 millimeter square. Applications for medicine and business are immense - creating chips that utilize proteins and neurons to achieve their tiny nano-programs.

Also, it was announced this week that researchers have created what they call a "cellborg." It is the first success in blending micro-organisms with electronics. The new "cellborg" is acting a sensor to detect changes in humidity, but the applications include being able to detect gases or chemicals, which promises usage within medicine and security technology.

And earlier this month, the first ever NanoTech Consumer Products Inventory was made available to the public. Some 212 products are currently listed, and more are being added on a nearly daily basis, though not all items currently being used are offered to the public - yet. One nano researcher says:

"We are at the vanguard of discovering the endless benefits of nanotechnology for applications like targeted cancer treatments and more efficient solar cells. With this inventory, we also are learning that this technology is already being incorporated into our daily lives. It's on store shelves and being sold in every part of the world," said David Rejeski, director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, which is supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts."

I used to make a joke that I was waiting for what I called "The Media Patch" - a device I imagined would be about the size of a postage stamp, and would connect my brain to telephone service, computer and online access, television and radio. Guess I need to revise that to a simple tiny implant, which also includes all my financial and medical information -- though right now that would be "broke" and "feeling pretty good, but with a little paranoia about computer chips."

All Workers To Need Federal OK

Fundamental to all the debate about immigration reforms is one underlying theme - which political party can collect the most votes during the 2006 election. A candidate wants to appeal to those opposed to making illegal immigrants felons, unless they want to appeal to voters who want more criminalization for illegals. And new immigrants and first and second generation immigrants are eyeing which party supports them and which does not. To paraphrase, it's about the voters, stupid. Not about reform.

And for all the hoopla around loving or hating the proposed bill from last year in the House, I see little discussion about a fundamental change affecting every worker and would-be worker in the nation. The bill would demand a federal database of all potential workers and demand employers use that database or risk federal anger. Everyone would have to obtain, in essence, a federal "permission slip" to obtain a job, immigrant or not.

Or to put it another way:

"The legislation would create a sea-change in federal employment rules by requiring all workers in the country to obtain a federal agencyÂ’s permission to work. All employers would be required to participate in a national employment eligibility verification program in an expansion of the faulty but voluntary "Basic Pilot" program in current law. Like Basic Pilot, the new program would use an Internet-based system to check the names and social security numbers of all employees -- citizens and non-citizen alike -- against a Department of Homeland Security database.

The ACLU said that such a move would place a huge burden on both employers and workers. The non-partisan Government Accountability Office reported that conservative estimates of implementing such a system would cost at least $11.7 billion annually, a large share of which would be shouldered by businesses. Also, even assuming a near-perfect accuracy rate in the program, millions of legal, eligible American workers could still have their right to work seriously delayed or denied --fighting bureaucratic red tape to keep a job and pay bills. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business organizations have expressed strong reservations with the employment verification provisions."

Read the bill here. And remember, it's addressing Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism and Illegal Immigration. ( and the unspoken federal approval to be a worker in the U.S.)

Another Manufacturing Job Loss In Morristown

The much-troubled furniture manufacturing industry in Morristown continues to decline as the former Shelby Williams Industries, now called Commercial Furniture Inc., has dropped another 100 jobs. This follows the loss of 200 jobs announced last fall, according to an article today in the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Some 30 or more years ago, furniture makers were an anchor industry here, but in the last decade or more, the jobs have left for overseas operations and falling production.

Will Your Job Last?

Economic concerns are driving the debate behind immigration reform on most serious levels, with the notion arising, finally, that illegals lower overall wages - which benefit employers. And it isn't just the arrival of immigrants that threaten American workers, but the exodous of jobs.

How many millions of US jobs will fly overseas in the next five to ten years? 56 million?

From What I've Read

I've realized that in addition to the links I offer on this page, I should also from time to time provide some links to other blogs and posts which I read. I enjoy roaming the blog world and reading all types of opinions and info and news, and hope you enjoy this Sunday roundup. Click away!

- On all the anger from the Right.

- Does Barbara Bush profit from donations to Katrina Aid?

- Some local views on the Immigration debate.

- Do not change eminent domain laws. Or maybe we should.

- Some cool gadgets. And the Cool Hunters home.

- Goodbye and RIP to the creator of the Bakersfield Sound, Buck Owens.

- The Big Cheese.

Is God Angry With Britain?

It was inevitable I suppose, with battles and bombs raging in the Middle East, that God Himself would seek out the international press to sound off on His views. And He did just that recently in this article:

"The archangel reported that the Almighty has become increasingly irritated with the vogue for politicians to claim that He is behind their policies - especially if these involve killing large numbers of humans"

Even here in the U.S., the President had to deal with questions and or fears concerning the Apocalypse.

Subscriber Service Back In Action - Get Yours!!

For subscribers to this blog, you'll get better service now that I've dropped Bloglet and am using FEEDblitz instead. Bloglet just up and quit working, emails to them came back as undeliverable, so I punted them. A search revealed more bloggers were happy with FEEDblitz, so I'm trying them out. Please let me know if you have any problems with this new service and I thank you for signing up - if you haven't it's easy!!! Just sign up on the form in the links section here!

Camera Obscura - Weapon of Choice

Every now and then a performer in today's nano-fast, modern now-a-go-go world makes hits decade after decade in almost every realm of entertainment - movies, TV, stage, music and books. You know today's subject and I bet you'll even know some lines he's made or that certain movies which were made better just because he was there. That's called Star Power. And his Legend says he's a performer who never turns down a part. Any part.

He'll turn 63 next week, on March 31st, but I don't expect him to stop anytime soon.

I remember some other actor once referred to him as a "reed thin, hyper-intensive guy" and that sort of sums him up pretty well. He can make a villian be funny in the creepiest ways. Sometimes, his haircut is frightening.

He earned an Oscar for "The Deer Hunter" in 1978 and his lanky funky dancing got him an MTV music award in 2001 and "Saturday Night Live" has an open invite for him to host whenever he wishes. One of my personal favorite moments is the "watch speech" he gives in "Pulp Fiction" where he mentions the watch was bought in Knoxville - without a doubt, Christopher Walken can do it all.



I guess it was it his dancing though, that made him stand out to me. I was one of the few hundred in 1981 who bothered to watch, much less enjoy the Steve Martin-starring movie "Pennies From Heaven." His tap-dancing scene in the pool hall was inspired madness.

Also in '81, he starred in the underrated "Dogs of War", where he and three other guys take over an entire country. Reading his movie credits and his bio, you'll find about 90 movies under his belt, comedies, animation, horror and mystery and action and drama. He started at 10 in a skit with Jerry Lewis and was in last year's huge hit "The Wedding Crashers." His career just keeps growing.

Worth mentioning here is the Web hoax that has Walken as a presidential candidate for 2008, and his growing fame as a music producer in a "Saturday Night Live" skit where he keeps yelling "More cowbell!!!" as the band Blue Oyster Cult records the song "Don't Fear The Reaper."

But for sheer joy and wild fun, it's hard to beat his dancing in the Spike Jonze directed video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice," which he choreographed and nabbed that MTV award. I'm including the video today via YouTube for you to watch, but you'll get a crisper and cleaner copy of the video by going here.

Fred Astaire may have danced on the walls, but Chris flies.

How Much for Gas? or The Summer Blend Mystery

Back in the end of February I was paying $1.99 a gallon for gas and yesterday the price was $2.45. And of course, the price hike arrives as the "Spring Break" season begins, and this morning I see a report from AAA talking about the oil company's mandated changeover to "summer blend" gas.

Yes, the headlines and AAA say it - Summer Blend drives Price Hike.

What the heck is a summer blend and a winter blend?

Being an internet fiend, I Google the phrase. And the "summer blend" was mandated by the EPA back in 2001 by the President's Energy Policy, even found this nifty press release from the EPA which says this new "boutique" of clean fuel programs will "benefit consumers." Then head of the agency, Christie Whitman said:

"I am concerned that when supplies fall short, due to increased demand or pipeline disruptions, the gasoline prices increase dramatically, as we saw this past summer. EPA requires the use of summer blend fuels to minimize air pollution during the hot summer months. While many factors contributed to the gasoline price spikes this year, we want to ensure that using summer blend fuel is not a contributor to price hikes.

Hmmm. Turns out each state has their own laws and requirements about what fuel should be used in different times of the year - the aforementioned "boutique" - means about 100 different types of summer blends are made. And much of the info is several years old, back when a barrel of crude was less than $30.

So the more I find out, the more confused the information becomes. It all seems to contradict, which also seems to be a trend regarding information and bureaucracy. Gas station owners hate the price hike they say, drivers hate it more, and as Yoda might say "Helpless we all are."

Last week while driving, I decided to tune in to the mindless ravings of Rush Limbaugh. It's good to know what the crazies are thinking. And he's complaining about people who complain about the record multi-billion dollar profits that all the oil companies have been reporting. The fat idiot says if people really want to find something to complain about, it's the rise of property taxes over the last 10 or 15 years, and that if the "average American" understood how that problem has grown then they would take to the streets in masses.

What?

Then I recall how R.L. is a master of the ol' bait-and-switch. Never answer the issue at hand, bring up another one and claim the Evil is there.

The bottom line is oil companies always have an excuse - seasonal changes, clean air laws, Venezuela, Iraq, OPEC, hurricanes, China, natural gas, state gas taxes, yadda yadda yadda. You darned Americans just want everything - adequate supplies, reinvestment of profits, efficient combustion, war, peace, cable TV and better grades fer the kids in school. The reply to your endless need is: Someone has to pay for it. And for the attorneys.

TN Hospitals Join 'Typo' Lawsuit

I mentioned last week that people were beginning to question whether or not a law signed by President Bush was actually a law or a collection of Constitutional violations. As of last Friday, 15 Tennessee hospitals joined with those who want the $39 billion deficit-reduction Act reviewed or repealed, calling it "unconstitutional", according to this report in The Hill.

The hospitals, which have been battling with the Health and Human Services agency for 10 years over billing issues, won $100 million lawsuit against HHS in September of last year - but the day after the President signed this "new law", HHS filed a motion to alter the court's judgement against them.

The confusion is growing faster than kudzu in summertime - and the HHS motion made Sen. Frist angry, according to the story:

"In addition to prompting a legal response that could obliterate a $39 billion spending-reduction bill, the HHS motion to overturn that decision attracted the ire of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and the entire Tennessee delegation.

Frist and his colleagues wrote to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on March 10 to complain about the government’s motion.

“We request further explanation of what we believe to be a serious miscommunication by [Medicare representatives],” the lawmakers wrote."

Patents on Thought - UPDATE

According to some the questions from Supreme Court members yesterday, much doubt is being cast on the notion that patents can be applied to thought. It's really obvious the answer should be "No."

Justice Stephen Breyer noted that a Yes vote on this issue would create "monopolies in this country beyond belief," and Justice Scalia repeatedly asked "What was made by man here?" during the arguments in the case. More on the arguments made are here.

While there are a world of definitions regarding copyright, trademarks and patents, I have been seeing some dangerous trends in all these areas and my beliefs about copyrights themselves have changed greatly over the last few years.

As someone who has scraped by earning tiny amounts of money for writing, I used to be hold a firm belief that creators and inventors needed copyright protections in order to earn an income and protect the integrity of their creations. Yet as corporations have swallowed up the ideas of others, the ramifications of ownership and earnings changed, so my perspectives have changed.

Unfathomable changes have occured in the modern age - as I noted in the previous post, concerning owning the patents on thought, and of course the issues file sharing and downloading music and video have brought on heated debates and court cases taking action against individuals by the ever-growing rights extended to corporations.

Another recent madness emerged as Marvel Comics and DC Comcis continue to prevent the commercial use of their trademark to the term Super-Hero. It's a word, and yes, a concept, but this legal claim by Marvel and DC is madness.

Wrestling with these ideas, I went back to the still-revolutionary writings of our U.S. Constitution, where in Article One, Section 8 it states:

"To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries ..."

Previous history to this document reveals hundreds of years of Western Civilization aiming to control the use and spread of information. So, it is little wonder the writers of the Constitution were specific in their phrasing -- that law should promote science and arts for limited times. After that time has passed, writings and discoveries were meant to become part of the public's domain.

The writers wisely held the belief that information and ideas need to ultimately be free and easily accesible to all citizens. It's an idea I also have embraced. God knows the more free and open access to all types of information will "promote progress."

A brilliant and well researched article "The Erosion of Public Protection: Attacks On The Concept of Free Use" traces the history of the copyright issue.

Supreme Court Considers Patents on Thought

On Tuesday of this week the Supreme Court takes up an odd case involving patent rights, and one of the key issues concerns how factual information might make a person "think", and how such reflection and thought could violate the patent. Kinda makes my head hurt to ponder this case,

In short, a company called Metabolite owns the license for a patent on a medical test for homocysteine, an amino acid in the blood, and further, the patent includes the basic biological relationship between this amino acid and vitamin deficiency. Another company, LabCorp, uses a different medical test, but has published information mentioning the the "patented fact" about the biology involved. So far, courts have backed Metabolite on the patent infringement of "thinking" about this fact.

Yeah, OK....

In an essay by Michael Chrichton in the NYTimes, he notes some things I plain did not know and I hope I'm not breaking the law by thinking about this or writing about it:

"For example, the human genome exists in every one of us, and is therefore our shared heritage and an undoubted fact of nature. Nevertheless 20 percent of the genome is now privately owned. The gene for diabetes is owned, and its owner has something to say about any research you do, and what it will cost you. The entire genome of the hepatitis C virus is owned by a biotech company. Royalty costs now influence the direction of research in basic diseases, and often even the testing for diseases. Such barriers to medical testing and research are not in the public interest. Do you want to be told by your doctor, "Oh, nobody studies your disease any more because the owner of the gene/enzyme/correlation has made it too expensive to do research?"

"The question of whether basic truths of nature can be owned ought not to be confused with concerns about how we pay for biotech development, whether we will have drugs in the future, and so on. If you invent a new test, you may patent it and sell it for as much as you can, if that's your goal. Companies can certainly own a test they have invented. But they should not own the disease itself, or the gene that causes the disease, or essential underlying facts about the disease."

One example which Chrichton notes is that Einstein did not own the patent on his mathematical theory of the speed of light being constant. But what if he had? What if Newton owned a patent on the idea of gravity? If so, then researchers would have to pay royalties for thinking about them and experimentation based on those ideas.

And that, dear readers, is my concern - is it truly feasible to demand royalties on what you might think about the facts and theories of the natural world and how they relate to each other?

Oh, and there is the already disturbing (to me) law that allows for someone to "own" segments of the Human Genome.

Patriot Act - The Board Game

What happens when you blend the game of Monopoly with the so-called "Patriot" Act?

You get a board game where the object is to be the last player to retain any Civil Liberties.

Instead of landing on say, Oriental Avenue, you land on color-coded terror alert sites, and get Homeland Security cards instead of Chance cards. And you don't Go To Jail - you go to Gitmo.

Read more here. (Note the story refers to the "inventor" of the game as an "artists" and "activist". (and hat-tip to the Rodeo Monkey for the story)

Next oddity of the day arrived via Cherokee Sage Woman. Police raid a near-full blown factory manufacturing snack foods made of marijuana - complete with names like "Pot Tarts" and "Buddhafingers."

And one more - the Las Vegas artist who found his BBQ chicken made him the "Rodney King of Chicken."

Wal-Mart Says No To Legislation And TennCare's 1st Annual Report

The state legislature is facing a battle with Wal-Mart over dollars mandated by government to be spent on health insurance. Some 33 other states are also considering similar legislative action, which would require that a company with 10,000-plus employees to pay 10 peccent of their gross payroll toward health care - either directly to workers or to a state-led health care fund, according to reports.

Wal-Mart is lobbying against it, saying it's an unfair "union tactic" though supporters note that about 25 percent of Wal-Mart employees are TennCare recepients, the largest percentage of any company in the state.

Other than Wal-Mart, the other companies that would be affected include FedEx, Kroger and Vanderbilt. The article makes interesting reading.

The state is continuing to track down fraud and abuse of TennCare - something the Bredesen administration demanded and previous Gov Sunquist avoided. But they've also made it easy for anyone to report fraud and abuse of TennCare.

The first-ever annual report of TennCare is available at the state's website and has these comments:

"This is the first time the Bureau has produced a report that very clearly spells out to the taxpayers how the program works and how their tax dollars are being spent in the TennCare program,” said TennCare Director, Dr. J.D. Hickey. “As the single largest component of the state’s overall budget, we felt compelled to produce this report and believe it will be a useful tool in better understanding the TennCare program and thechanges we’ve made during the past year.”

"The Annual Report chronicles TennCare’s efforts to rein in program finances by implementing dozens of pharmacy utilization control measures, expanding drug purchasing power, launching five statewide disease management programs and aggressively managing the program to return the program to financial stability. Statistics on the TennCare population, county-by-county enrollment breakdowns and funding source breakouts with actual expenditures and growth percentages are highlighted in the report for quick reference."

You can report suspected TennCare fraud by calling 1-800-433-3982 toll-free from anywhere in Tennessee, or log on to www.tenncarefraud.tennessee.gov

Camera Obscura - Alan Moore's Vendetta

The mainstream world is about to encounter what readers around the Western world read and thought about the rise of the Ronald Reagan years, though now re-told as the Neo-Conservative battle playing out in today's political world in the new move release "V for Vendetta." The writer and creator of the original 12 issue comic book series Alan Moore, has, once again, had his name removed from this film based on his work which was published in 1988.

Moore has given up rights to his works already made into film - "Constantine," "From Hell," "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". He still writes intriguing tales in the comics and remains a most unusual character. A recent interview has these comments about "V for Vendetta":

"As far I'm concerned, the two poles of politics were not Left Wing or Right Wing. In fact they're just two ways of ordering an industrial society and we're fast moving beyond the industrial societies of the 19th and 20th centuries. It seemed to me the two more absolute extremes were anarchy and fascism. This was one of the things I objected to in the recent film, where it seems to be, from the script that I read, sort of recasting it as current American neo-conservatism vs. current American liberalism. There wasn't a mention of anarchy as far as I could see. The fascism had been completely defanged."

I had been reading Moore's award-winning work thru the late 1980s on "Swamp Thing" and "Miracleman", just prior to the release of the astonishing masterpiece called "The Watchmen." More on that later (and please, God, don't let them ever make a movie of it). It was in late summer in 1990 in a small apartment in Brooklyn where I ran across the V for Vendetta series.

The character of V takes action not so much for some Moral Code - it's more that he wants to destabilize the status quo, encourage the individual to establish self-determining skills, and ultimately the reader has much to wonder as to whether V is just an insane anarchist, a tortured artist or just the presence of non-conformity.

In 1990s Manhattan, riots had raged in Bensonhurst and Times Square was still home to porn theatres and crime - as opposed to its role today as a sleek and clean place to see the latest Walt Disney Broadway musical. The rap band Public Enemy was playing Radio Center under heavy police security and economic ravages of trickled-on-and-down Reaganism left a funky sense of smoldering rage through the city. I remember seeing stretches of the Brooklyn Bridge marked with graffiti which read "Yuppicide".

To the movie's credit, I understand there's more actual dialog than just action - but we'll see. The film itself is dedicated to the memory of the late, great cinematographer Adrian Biddle who died in Dec. 2005. And it stands to reason to stake out the story with the current political debate noting single-party government and morality versus ... well, reviewers have referred to "liberalism", but I see little of that in America and more concerns of maintaining the Bill of Rights. But that's another post.

First in V for Vendetta and later in "The Watchmen" Moore presents the idea that someone, with or without some super-hero power, who dons a mask and takes the law into his or her own hands is -- well, a little crazy, isn't it? And his epic graphic novel, "The Watchmen," Moore provides a leftover collection of deeply disturbed superheroes enacting their vision for humanity which isn't really very sane. There are many levels of storytelling here and all brilliantly presented - in my opinion, it's the pinnacle of storytelling in comic books and nothing has reached beyond it since it first came out in the late 1980s. The ideas there have been picked up in Hollywood and anime and television ever since. Moore seems content to just continue writing as he wishes.

In some other movie/comics news, writer Mike Mignola and director Guillermo del Toro are teaming together again for a sequel to the highly underrated "Hellboy" movie. For my money, it's the best adaption of a comic book to movie I've ever seen. Rumors also claim the director is being wooed to take the lead for the movie adaption of the videogame "Halo."

And as of this morning, I read that actor Benicio del Toro has signed on to play The Wolf-Man in a new Universal movie.

And so far, I've been most impressed with the new Tuesday night TV series "The Unit" created by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet -- someone called it "Desperate Housewives Meets G.I. Joe", but it's much better than that. It follows a group of covert-ops military agents and their wives, but the lingo is realistic and each episode stands alone - you don't have to follow a season-long storyline to keep up with it.

$2 Billion And A Law Which Isn't Legal

A two billion dollar federal typo about how long oxygen used in home should be paid by Medicare; the vice-president has to fly in to make the tie-breaking vote; House and Senate bills that don't match, but which is made into law with the signature of the President.

But what if none of this is legal?

GOP Fakes Integrity

To prove they are the embodiment of integrity, members of Congress have bravely submitted to giving up receiving free trips from lobbyists until the after the November elections - then it's back to fawning at the feet of anyone with money.

The pretend approach to "ethics reform" considered by the House of Representatives is likely to get another touch of pretend-to-stop-getting-gifts before the full vote on the fake reforms.

More info on how GOP-led Congress feasts on cash here.

Green Party Candidate Seeks 1st District

The open race for Congress here in East Tennessee has one candidate that isn't much like the usual choices - not that there has been much of a choice since Jimmy Quillen took the seat in 1962. But Green Parrty candidate member Robert N. Smith has announced his campaign as of last week with some scathing comments for both Republicans and Democrats.

Smith is a 20-year vet from the Navy and hhs announcement story can be read here at the Greeneville Sun. What are some of his views on national politics?

"During the last 40 years I have seen the Republican Party go from a party of financial responsibility and small government to something I can only call National Socialism.

“The Democrats in the same time have gone from representing the little people to Republican Lite. Nether party represents me or most people I know.”

He has a "19-point campaign platform" which the article mentions too:

1- Impeach Bush/Cheney and lesser officials for treason, the one charge that the president cannot grant a pardon for;

“2- Pull out of Iraq/Afghanistan and allow U.N. forces to do the job of peacekeeping, rebuilding;

“3- Rescind the unconstitutional Partriot Act;

“4- Call for sharp reductions in defense spending, with the savings going to essential social/environmental programs

More is in the article.

Tennessee's Abortion Plan

States legislatures, like the one in South Dakota and now Tennessee, seem to place a high priority on going through the U.S. courts systems waging a war, one they see as implicity moral, to end the currently legal medical procedures of abortion.

This happens in a campaign year, of course, giving life to much grandstanding by politicians. The sad truth is the volatile issues of abortion will never be answered by a court verdict or opinion. In fact, it further prevents and stalls meaningful debate and discussion and education about human sexuality. Instead the public is given a sideshow of sleight of hand - one political party is moral, another is immoral, one politician is moral, another immoral - all based on their votes or lack of votes to outlaw or keep legal abortion. Certainly, a voter has the right to base their vote on a single issue such as abortion if they wish. But I must say if you believe that making this medical procedure illegal will end it in the nation, then you are wrong and naive.

It happened before the infamous Roe v. Wade ruling, it happened 600 years ago, it happened as far back as you care to trace human history. What changed after Roe V. Wade? It became a process controlled by laws and medically safe methods. And it became a choice for a woman, or a couple, or for parents to make. To end the choice now, or rather, to argue about the choice in courts ignores so many larger issues.

Let's face it - people have sex and they have it a lot. Always have, always will. Sometimes it is consensual and sometimes it is abuse. The more recent trendy notion of just abstaining is moored to strong beliefs and fine intentions. But it also denies the basic functions of a human body.

Want to reduce unwanted pregnancy, break the chains of child abuse, drop the number of abortions performed? The answer is Sex Education. Factual accurate information about the human body and how it works - well, even that remains debated. Yet, the more plain and honest the discussion about our bodies and our sexuality, the better each person will be when their bodies and minds bring them to sexual situations.

Stop the game of amendments and court battles.

The real questions of sex education can should replace it - what information, who should teach it and when should the information be provided are far more critical and important and will lead to better decisions.

Freedom

Thought readers might like to make note of the changes to the Rocky Top Brigade site, which still works pretty much as before and has a nice new look. Brigade members are now listed on the right side of the page rather than the left side of the page (insert yer own political joke) and on the top left, you can also peruse RTB members by area. Many thanks to Just Johnny for all the work and help to provide a home and a gathering place for free thought and free expression, as revolutionary an idea today as the day it was penned into the laws of this nation.

Some other items caught my attention this weekend too - well, when I wasn't busy hacking up entire sections of my lungs and ribs thanks to the some virus which gave me nightmares and a fever.

One such item was the post from High Country Conservative, who notes that his state Senator Tommy Kilby wants to introduce legislation to ban "violent video games" in Tennessee. Since literally any genre of video game is available for sale to the public, wouldn't it make more sense to simply require immediate jail terms and fines for any parent who buys a child a "violent game"? Last time I read the Constitution, there are no requirements that parents supply each child they bring into the world with their own video game system, remote control television, DVD player, CD player, iPod, radio,cell phone or computer system.

Maybe it's just my fever talking, but I'm sick to death of the urge to turn the government into a "governess" or "nanny", the ultra-moralizing invasive tactics to police each and every element of culture and society someone might find offensive. Instead of all these warning labels on products, maybe people should carry warning stickers on their foreheads that read: WARNING - Having a child means YOU will be responsible for the various influences you provide them.

Once I regain some health, say Monday or Tuesday, I will add some more talk - which means my opinions - about a truly serious issue the state's legislature is voting for (and some against) which concerns abortion laws in Tennessee. There have already been many writers debating this issue, with a fine collection of viewpoints at No Silence Here and another at Nashville Is Talking, and more at Knox Views.

Camera Obscura - Objects and Lies

Funny isn't it - no limos will glide up to a newly renovated Tennessee Theatre, no media will crowd the velvety ropes outlining a regal length of red carpet, no spotlights will arc across the night sky high above Gay Street. Nope, none of that will happen for the movie that was filmed in Knoxville back in 2004 and finally opens in theaters in the U.S. today. I did search for ANY city in the state where it might be opening .... but ... not there. The movie "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" finally found a distributor, Palm Pictures, but it doesn't have the kind of story that draws admiration, with issues like child abuse and drug abuse front and center. I do remember back in the 1987 when the limos and velvety goodness did herald a Knoxville Premiere, for the truly awful horror movie directed by David Keith, "The Curse." Got to meet Claude Akins that night (oh, come on - Sheriff Lobo? "B.J.. and the Bear"? "Rio Bravo"? how about that "Monsters on Maple Street" episode of the original "Twilight Zone"? .... no?) And there was a heck of a party at Lord Lindsey's afterward.

"The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" arrives too with a new promotional tag line, that the writer of the stories it was based on, J.T. LeRoy, was a "great literary hoax" and that the real writer is a woman named Laura Albert. For some years now various people have shown up at all the "hot clubs" or film openings or book signings pretending to be LeRoy until Leroy was outed a few weeks ago -- in fact just after the big shocking Oprah episode where she gave a public spanking to writer James Frey for making up things in his "memoir" about drug abuse and child abuse. I guess if Oprah doesn't give you publicity, then J.T. LeRoy's made-up stories just get lost in the daily shuffle of lies and half-lies that tumble off TV screens and press conferences every few nanoseconds.

Director and co-star of the movie, Asia Argento's second feature does tell a truth in the myths of this story about a young boy raised by a prostitute mom, a series of abusive father substitutes, and is raised for a while as a girl instead of a boy before becoming an adolescent street preacher. And it is a pretty ugly truth - abuse exists and lives get twisted and torn to shreds.

The movie does boast a hefty collection of oddball celebs in bit parts - Peter Fonda, Winona Ryder, Marilyn Manson, etc etc - but don't expect much of any spotlights or red carpets anywhere for this movie. It's disturbing, and could well be a horror movie as made by Asia's dad - Dario Argento. I'm sure more moviegoers will be far more at ease this weekend at the remakes of "The Hills Have Eyes" or the "The Shaggy Dog" (isn't this like the eighth remake of this movie?)

As I was thinking about the current state of "the hoax" and what gets labled a "lie" and what is labled "truth", it reminded me of one of my favorite movies, "Blow-Up" from 1966. The story is about a bored photogapher (David Hemmings) who may have seen or may have imagined seeing a murder take place on a windy day in a London park. He becomes deeply obsessed with the photos he took of "the incident", blowing up the pictures to larger and larger sizes, until all that's left is a collection of black-and-white dots - is there a meaning to the dots or does he make the meaning exist?

Toward the end of the movie, he shambles into a nightclub where The Yardbirds are playing "Stroll On" and the crowd watches like zombies until the guitars start to get smashed and they go wild. A young Jimmy Page keeps playing while a really mad Jeff Beck just stomps on the guitar and hold the pieces up for the audience to see. For some reason, the photographer grabs the guitar neck in a furious struggle and runs away, but no one follows - he tosses the broken pieces away in the street, waiting for someone else to find it and place a meaning to it.
Here's the clip:

Sex Toy Update

According to a comment left by Britteny at Nashville is Talking, the proposed legislation to outlaw sex toys has been .... um .... "pulled" ... from consideration by Sen. Burks.

Sex Toys In Tennessee

Have I missed some news reports where roving bands of sex toys sales teams are canvassing schoolyards in Tennessee attempting to lure underage kids into buying sex toys? Are there television and radio ads hawking the imitation sex devices upon an unsuspecting public? Apparently, some in the Tennessee State House view these devices as a threat, though I do see and hear endless ads on TV and radio advising to men on how they can "enhance" their genital performance.

Others in the TN blog world have posted on this, notably at Tennessee Guerilla Women and at WhitesCreek Journal, and Say Uncle. Senate Bill 3794 and House Bill 3798 would make it illegal to sell, advertise, publish or exhibit to another person any three-dimensional device designed or marketed as useful primarily for stimulation of human genital organs.

Does "three-dimensional device" include, say, a human hand?

And is this the (ahem) burning,white-hot issue legislators feel requires (ahem) action???

Given that the legislature is "handling" the issues of ethics, conflicts of interest, FBI probes into bribery, investigations into the actions of the widespread failures of state agencies to provide residents with copies of open records (via Newscoma), the stalled improvements to TennCare, the consistently confusing formula for providing state schools with adequate funding -- Sen. Burks and Rep. Swafford have pointed their attentions at devices for self stimulation.

Will we have to create a special Task Force to (ahem) handle this situation? This is more than a waste of legislative time and energy, it's just plain silly. And I have to wonder, is touching yourself soon to be a crime in and of itself?