Camera Obscura: Reasons To See 'Southland Tales

No movie is better at tackling the mood and madness of the current age better than "Southland Tales". It's no wonder it's gotten reviews ranging from awful to the best of 2007. It's an opera of our times, a comedy-sci-fi-musical-satire apocalypse which starts with a roaring barrage of nuclear blasts, oppressive media over-stimulation, and a host of plot threads and ideas that hit viewers like a shotgun blast. The movie is not, as some critics claim, a disaster, but it's a view on the disastrous world we inhabit.

I was constantly reminded of the kind of fearless satire of writer Terry Southern - who gave us such classics as "Dr. Strangelove", "Barbarella", and "The Loved One". The sledgehammer of satire strikes again and again, not worrying about achieving wisdom but more about achieving an approximation of the lunatic surrealism so constant in our culture.

The basic story is of an America torn by war, the return of the draft, fringe political groups locked in relentless conflict, media consumed with fame, with itself, with shock and awe, a society under constant surveillance, a fierce rush for alternative energy, self-righteous demagogues, a presidential election and much more. Honestly, as the movie unspools it's version of television as The Breaking News hub of consciousness, I was glad to see someone else had the same view of media today as I do - a glut of the popularity of the mundane and meaningless and a catalog of political in-fighting which is impossible to accommodate.

Now add in a story about rips in the space-time continuum and you have a story that could have been penned by Kurt Vonnegut. This movie instead is from Richard Kelly ("Donnie Darko") and while the story gets incoherent, that's part of the point. There's a whale of a cast too - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Justin Timberlake, Mandy Moore, Amy Poehler, Sean William Scott, Miranda Richardson, Jon Lovitz, Christopher Lambert and Rebekah Del Rio in the closing scenes doing an unforgettable version of the National Anthem.

Dwayne Johnson scores a bulls eye in the lead role here - playing a celebrity with political power and some mysterious amnesia who has a movie script which might save the world or destroy it. He's living with porn star Gellar, who is attempting to parlay porn into intellectual and commercial might. Johnson never winks or nods to the camera (nor does anyone else), playing the farce straight up.

There are some marvelous bits, like the references to T.S. Eliot and Robert Frost (and the Republican presidential candidates of Eliot/Frost versus the Democrat team of Clinton/Lieberman), a 'secret' energy source called Fluid Karma, and Justin Timberlake lip-synching The Killers. And a giant blimp.

Not A Torch Run, It's A Torch Flee

The chaos and confusion amid the Olympic Torch run in San Fran yesterday made trying to locate the troubled symbols of the Olympics like playing a game of Where's Waldo?

As I observed some of the events on CNN, I kept thinking how my friend Brittney Gilbert at CBS-5 was covering the story from the blogging world. Boy, did she nail it and posted many great videos and pics and stories from the scene - check it out at Eye On Blogs.

Oddly, as I was reading and watching this debacle unfold, I was reminded of a 'torch mystery' from the past ....

"Golly, Frank, what is a 'tibet' anyway??"

Devilish Details In TN Cable Franchise Legislation

A definition of the word Legislation: a solution to a problem which may, or may not actually exist, which may or may not actually create any observable results, and typically is a hand-stitched agreement crafted after some great length of time in order that the public be aroused or dulled and during which time money may be applied to preserve, alter or eliminate debate.

That thought kept running through my head as I was reading the proposal to allow AT&T to by-pass local control of franchises for cable television - especially since they could now today be offering 'competitive' plans to consumers across the state. Wading into and through the complex legal language is and always has been a chore. My brother is the lawyer, not me. And sometimes I'm not even sure what he says and/or means.

I wrote previously this week about this draft agreement. The plain fact is the plan does have some odd and downright wrong components. Keep in mind this bill was created to provide AT&T with a statewide cable franchise proposal, though there is much in the bill addressing the access to internet services, too.

For example, when it comes to verifying whether or not a franchise holder has attained the mandated deployment of broadband access to the internet, Section 12 (d) of the plan says that the state agency Connected Tennessee will be providing the information. I wrote recently about Connected Tennessee, since it's board members are former Bell South/AT&T employees. How handy the agency was created prior to this legislation - sure sounds like the fox watching the henhouse to me.

By the way, I wrote a few emails to Connected Tennessee's director, Michael Ramage some weeks back asking for some further details about the agency. But when I wrote asking for info on who is on their board as well as employees and contractors who were NOT previously with Bell South/AT&T I received no response.

A major concern among many is the concept of 'cherry-picking', allowing a provider like AT&T to simply offer services to the wealthiest of neighborhoods and ignore more rural and low-income areas. Under this new proposal, franchise holders would 'self-define' their areas of service. Also, a complex formula even allows for franchise holders to count households for their requirements twice or even four times whether or not that franchise actually offers service to them, just as long as someone does.

And there is no guarantee that Public Access, Education and Government channels would be in the most basic tier of channels. In other areas of the country, all PEG channels are lumped into one, and a viewer must call up a typically slow-running menu program and select a typically weak signal to tune in.

I also received an email from Bunnie Riedel of Riedel Communications, and former Executive Director of the National Alliance for Community Media, who has been reviewing and analyzing these franchise plans being pushed across the country state by state. She wrote that in reviewing the plans: "The worst bill to have passed is Nevada, TN's bill comes in 2nd to that one. AT&T is about to take TN on a nice long ride."

Her own blog is here. (My thanks to her for her input, and see below for her take on the most detrimental elements to the proposed plan.)

The Tennessee chapter of the National Alliance for Community Media is Keep It Local Tennessee. (CORRECTION: This TN group is not part of the NAM -- Please see the UPDATE at the end of this post!!!)

The more I read of this plan, the more it seems to be a program geared to look out for the interests of AT&T and not for consumers. We all want to be able to make a good choice when it comes to seeking services for cable and internet. The local franchise plans, and I know it's a complex process to make agreements one at a time, yet these local plans all demand service providers work hard to expand their service areas so that all residents of a community get that chance to make good choices. But it's rather obvious the state legislature has crafted a plan to serve the needs of business first and residents second. Given the solemn claim by Tennessee House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh to push this plan through, your voice and the voices of other Tennessee residents has little impact, and this proposal will likely become the law in Tennessee.

The following is from Bunnie Riedel of Riedel Communications, as she has been analyzing this state franchise issue for the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisers, and is a selection of troubling elements found in the current draft of legislation in Tennessee:

- Certificate of Authority (CFA) holders self-define their service areas. In other words, AT&T can cherry pick where they will or will not provide service throughout the state or even within zip codes. This practice has taken place in Texas, Kansas, Indiana and other states, with AT&T choosing to obtain statewide franchises for very limited, mostly wealthy, areas.

- For the build out percentages, households that did not have access to the CFA holder’s broadband internet service count as two households and households that did not have any broadband service count as four households. This is deceptive because the definition for broadband in the bill is 1.5 Mbps. Therefore the actual percentage would be either 15% (two households) or 7.5% (four households).

- The bill’s broadband definition of 1.5 Mbps is inadequate. AT&T’s own website shows that at that speed it can be only used for emailing and downloading music.

- The CFA holder can count households that have broadband internet service toward their requirements to build out video or cable service, whether or not they offer those households video or cable!

- The bill sets up an organization influenced by the telecommunications companies, Connected Tennessee, as “verifiers” for AT&T’s broadband deployment. That is the fox watching the hen house. The Tennessee Regulatory Authority is then instructed to rely on Connected Tennessee’s reports and can only examine documents provided to them by Connected Tennessee….documents that were provided to Connected Tennessee by AT&T in the first place.

PEG CHANNELS SLAMMED FROM THE BASIC TIER, LOSS OF CHANNELS AND CHANNEL QUALITY AND LOSS OF PEG SUPPORT

- HB1421 details a convoluted formula for where PEG channels will be placed based on the number of channels activated by municipalities or counties in local franchise agreements. The bottom line is that the bill allows all PEG channels to be slammed out of the Basic Tier of service onto to any tier.

People who only purchase the Basic Tier will no longer receive PEG channels, unless they also purchase additional equipment.

- People who only purchase Basic Tier are typically lower income and the elderly.

- All channels are placed together on Channel 99, where viewers have to scroll through several menus to find their local PEG channels.

- The transmission of PEG channels is degraded to the same transmission quality as a cell phone video transmission.

-The channels take as long as 1 ½ minutes to “pull up.”

- They are not functionally equivalent to any other channel on the system.

- AT&T will not provide closed captioning or second language transmission for the PEG channels.

- Engineers say that AT&T can treat PEG channels exactly the same as any other channel, but choose not to do so for business reasons.
PEG support in the bill is woefully inadequate.

- The bill is written in such a way to make one think that CFA holders must provide up to 1% PEG support, however, that PEG support is limited to “paying capital costs of equipment.”

- PEG capital expenditures go beyond equipment to the “bricks and mortar” of PEG facilities and the cost of maintaining those facilities.

LACK OF REAL CUSTOMER SERVICE PROVISIONS

- While the bill says the CFA holders must comply with Federal Customer Service regulations (47 C.F.R. 76.309 (c)) it states that customer service complaints are to be handled in accordance with the service agreement contract between a customer and the video provider. What does that mean?

- Comcast customers across the country were forced to opt-in to arbitration and lost the right to seek court action (even small claims court) because Comcast changed the terms of the service agreement.

- Verizon customers in California have been told that if they wanted to pursue a claim, they would have to do so in the state of Virginia because that clause was included in their service contract.

- With this bill the CFA holders could put anything they wanted into the service contract, in the smallest print, and the customer would have no recourse.

- Further the TRA has no power to investigate or regulate customer service compliance by a provider, only to look at individual customer complaints.

UPDATE: I received the following email correction:

"Regarding your post, "Devilish Details" (http://cupofjoepowell.blogspot.com/2008/04/devilish-details-in-tn-cable-franchise.html), I see that you say:

"The Tennessee chapter of the National Alliance for Community Media is Keep It Local Tennessee. (http://www.keepitlocaltennessee.com/)"

This is not correct. There is no TN chapter of the ACM.

"Keep It Local TN" is the Tennessee version of a multi-state cable industry effort developed as a response to telco-inspired statewide video franchising legislation. There is also a "Keep It Local MA" (http://www.keepitlocalma.com/). There used to be a "Keep It Local PA" (http://www.keepitlocalpa.com/), but that site has been down for a couple months at least. I assume that's because the cablecos have now signed off on the legislation that has been filed in PA, although I've not been able to confirm that.

Actually, it's somewhat surprising that "Keep It Local TN" is still functioning, since the TN cablecos have also signed off on the new bill. While its most recent front page right column post is an April 7 press release from TCTA's Stacey Briggs supporting the bill, their front page left column is still calling for action opposing the bill!

Although the ACM links to all of these sites from our website because they support local channels and local control, they are not ACM chapters. There are also other state-based groups we link to in our "Saving PEG Access" blogroll, but they too are not ACM chapters. Our chapters are listed in the blogroll's second section, "ACM Affiliates."

Although there is no TN ACM chapter, there are a number of TN PEG access providers who are ACM members. I'm sure they'd be willing to speak with you about how this legislation will affect their communities. I hope you're able to include their perspectives in future posts. I've included them in the CC's, but they are:

Frank Bluestein, Germantown High School

Alan Bozeman, City of Murfreesboro

Gail Fedak, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro

Elliott Mitchell, Nashville

David Vogel, City of Knoxville

Again, thanks for continuing to call attention to this story.

~ Rob

Rob McCausland

Director of Information & Organizing Services

Alliance for Community Media

202-393-2650

web: http://ourchannels.org

wiki: http://peg.ourchannels.org

Wednesday's Web-Walk

A brief sample of things found on the Internet which may bring a smile or a grimace --

An American takes 15 million ice cream sticks, then 5 years of work from 5,000 students and makes a replica of a Viking ship which is setting sail. The ship, called The Sea Heart Viking, is loaded with toys and headed to London to visit some hospitals, too.

More information about the mission is here at the Sea Heart Foundation.

-----

Oh, those political games about the most political of games, the Olympics and its flame:

"The sportive, knightly battle awakens the best human characteristics. It doesn't separate, but unites the combatants in understanding and respect. It also helps to connect the countries in the spirit of peace. That's why the Olympic Flame should never die."

-----

A most prolific American writer earned a Pulitzer prize this week, though some care little for the way he sings his words. But the words have been the subject of endless debates and discussions. One of my favorite lines is:

"There must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief,
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."

and his take on an artist abroad has always been one of my favorites:

" Train wheels runnin' through the back of my memory,
When I ran on the hilltop following a pack of wild geese.
Someday, everything is gonna be smooth like a rhapsody
When I paint my masterpiece."

Kudos to Mr. Zimmerman.

-----

Speaking of music, did you know that Pat Summit is a Rock Star?

She is indeed.

-----

Dear Mr. Putz@OpenRecords.com

State Cable Franchise Plan Moves Ahead

Yesterday state officials provided information about a draft agreement for the state to start offering statewide cable TV franchises, just as AT&T wanted, and along the way the state will create a new oversight agency and a new fund to "promote" broadband internet access.

The document is a 67 page maze of legal-speak, which you can read here (thanks to R. Neal for the link). It will certainly take me some time to wade through it all and there is much to review. The proposal to allow for the first time a state franchise license doesn't mean much to consumers yet - though if the legislature OKs it, it is set to become law in July. The state commerce committee is scheduled to look at the proposals today.

I admit I am troubled that once House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh's wife Betty Anderson got a job with AT&T as a consultant, Naifeh then took the long-opposed plan through 3 months of closed-door meetings and magically came up with a plan he's now willing to shepherd through the legislature. Anderson and Naifeh are both on record saying just because she's a paid lobbyist, she does not exert undue influence on her powerful political husband.

That aside, some additions were made to the bill which aim to serve the public interest - such as keeping control of rights of way at the local level as companies try and bring/expand services; that franchise fees (capped at the federal maximum of 5% of a company's gross receipts of revenue; and provisions for providing local public access channels (PEG) are included.

Still, I'm reading though this complex document to learn more. Given the billions of dollars involved in this telecom business, and how economic and cultural impacts of internet access and availability are key components of this legislation, this will touch most every life in the state, it's a plan worth reviewing.

Some excerpts from Chattanoga Times Free Press media reports:

"But the speaker cautioned the legislation “is not a silver bullet to rising media prices, nor will Tennesseans see an immediate impact on the next cable bill.”

Stacey Briggs, the Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association’s president, said in a statement that “AT&T and other companies have had the right to compete under local franchising rules for more than a dozen years. This new policy streamlines the franchise process, but it remains to be seen whether new entrants will compete in Tennessee.”

And from the Tennessean here:

"Starting service: AT&T will have to apply for a franchise within one year of the bill's passage and would have to roll out service within two years after that, although the company could apply for an extension.

Build-out requirement: Within three-and-a-half years of its first TV service rollout in the state, AT&T would have to provide access to 30 percent of residents within its phone service territory, about 600,000 households. The company could provide service to fewer customers by getting extra credit for households that don't have access to broadband Internet.

Broadband incentive: AT&T could get credit toward its 30 percent build-out requirement by counting one house without access to its broadband service twice, and a house without access to any broadband Internet four times. This creates the possibility of AT&T providing access to its U-verse service to a minimum of about 150,000 houses in Tennessee. There would be no requirement that AT&T provide broadband service to areas that don't have it.

Low-income households: Twenty-five percent of households with access to AT&T's TV service would have to be low-income, defined as households with income of $35,000 or less, within three-and-a-half years."

More from the Knoxville News Sentinel here.

GOP Battle for Congress in East Tennessee

Voters were provided a comprehensive and vast, link-filled assessment of the state House, Senate and federal candidates in Tennessee thanks to some very hard work from R. Neal at TennViews, which you can see right here. You can review each candidate statewide at that site and hope you take some time to find out something about the folks who want to represent you.

The biggest fight in East Tennessee will be for the 1st Congressional District seat now held by Republican David Davis, but it will be a fight within the Republican party. Davis barely won his primary in 2006 and he has had a poor record, which I have been happy to post about hear. From his tax-payer funded mailers, to his blatant lies and exploitation on the issue of immigration, to his lock-step voting record with the Bush administration on every issue, Davis's slim approval within the GOP is being challenged often.

A major contender for the challenge is Phil Roe, who isn't much different from Davis, as noted in this interview. He's been hammering at Davis for receiving much cash support from PACs devoted to oil and maintaining the status quo on healthcare in the U.S. Davis may have a tough time claiming he's achieved anything of value to East Tennessee residents.

Sadly, incumbents like Davis in Tennessee do have a huge advantage - East Tennessee Republicans are as prone to change as a broken-down washing machine stuck in the corner of the basement.

He will face challenges from Democrats and from Independents, but again, little changes in the 1st District. Republicans have held the seat for over 100 years and once in, are in for life.

I have a simple approach to casting votes for congressional candidates in the 1st District: I'd vote for a Flying Monkey before I'd vote for a GOP candidate. Their leadership keeps this district poor, under-funded, and prone to staying in the corner of the basement.

Inflamed by China's Olympics?

If all the people who are so interested in protesting the next Olympics because they are in China, and China is the poster child of human rights abuses and tyranny over Tibet, such folk have no need to wait to huff out the fires of the Olympic flame as it makes a worldwide tour.

If you want to hit them where it hurts why not just boycott buying any Made In China products? That is, if you can identify them and learn to do without them for a while. (Good luck with that.)

In one case, a person's adventure with a 'year without China' led them to a create a best-selling book. Maybe you too can turn those protest signs into good ol' American dollars!

Camera Obscura: Monsters Be Our Destiny

I can think of few writers and creators of our current age who have reflected the twisted, fearful nature of the modern mind better than Stephen King. For decades now he has consistently (though not always) made me shiver with terror with his tales. He's created an impressive mythology of American horror. Some tales work better than others, but when he is on the mark, he's one of the best ever at his trade.

Last year filmmaker Frank Darabont tackled a King novella called "The Mist", which is out now on DVD. The initial release of the movie made little impact at the box office, but I'd expect more folks will watch the DVD and I think the movie is another example of how his tales can unnerve us, make us afraid not only of unnameable monsters but afraid of other people. And while I did like the movie, I liked the experience of reading the novella more. Books are almost always better. But this movie works for several reasons.

Solid performances from the actors in "The Mist" are part of the success, and unlike the somewhat lyrical tone of Darabont's other King adaptations ("The Green Mile" and "The Shawshank Redemption"), his camera captures a sense of ordinary light and ordinary places in this film. Early on, we know this will not end well. The situation is quickly and simply presented - an immense cloud of fog and mist settles into a seaside town just as chaotic scenes occur. Sirens wail and troops from a nearby military post roll in by the truckload. A large group of townspeople inside a grocery store watch the chaos and a wounded man enters warning them of horrible dangers and death coming out of the mist.

Trapped by their own fears, it does not take long for paranoia to take hold of each of them. What is unknown is frightening, but it's the meltdown of social order which truly disturbs the townspeople and the viewer. King has often given this scenario before - remove the trappings of ordinary life and many people become capable of monstrous acts quite quickly. Some viewers have complained about the religious fanaticism which one character uses to dominate the others. Too often today the fruits of such fervor are far to common in our world, and not a wild indictment of the faithful.

I liked the movie, even with a different and harsher ending than the original story. Although, as with most of King's stories, I try and comfort myself that I would never, ever act the way those people did. It's a small indulgence I think most of us hold to when we encounter the really scary things in life and in the imagination.

Another apocalyptic tale arrived on DVD last week, "I Am Legend" starring Will Smith, a movie based more on the 1971 Charlton Heston movie than the original 1954 novel by Richard Matheson. Smith plays Dr. Robert Neville, lone survivor of a worldwide virus which has devastated the planet. The worse news is that others did survive but as mutated creatures who ... well, they look nasty and all, but there isn't much mention of their habit of vampirism from the novel's plotline. The creatures are unable to move in a daylight world, and are attracted by blood, but that's the only element in this version of the story.

Before I say anything else, I have to praise Smith's performance in the movie. He is nearly mad from loneliness and despair, which is brought out in several terrific scenes as he talks with mannequins he has placed around the city of New York and when he recites lines from the movie "Shrek" in another key scene. The narrative also goes back and forth between the times of the plague and the present of Neville alone, which does allow for a look at how Neville devolved (or evolved) into a Legend among monsters.

However, this movie is not the book. I liked the movie, mostly due to the way Smith plays his character and the ending originally made for the movie is far better than the one that got released to theaters (you can watch it here, but it will make no sense unless you've seen the film). It's too bad the filmmakers followed the Heston version more than the novel.

Oddly, one archivist I found claims that Heston was given the book to read by Orson Welles when the pair were making their film noir classic "Touch of Evil" and that Heston tried to cut a deal with the studio for Sam Peckinpah to direct. I would love to have seen that movie, as Peckinpah would have understood the story Matheson wrote - that a non-mutant human was the real Legend in a world populated by mutants, that he was alone and a relic of the past and not the present or the future.


OBSCURA MOVIE NEWS

40 years ago this week, the landmark movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" was released and an excellent collection of writings and memorabilia can be found here. Sadly, it arrives just days after the passing of writer Arthur C. Clarke. Both Clarke and director Stanley Kubrick achieved a unique moment with their movie. It is a monument to possibility and imagination, a spectacle which still inspires with awe and wonder, expands the ideas of cinema and fiction as no other movie has ever done.

-----

It is truly Frank Miller's time - following on the first-rate adaptations of "300" and "Sin City", Hollywood is awaiting "The Spirit", which Miller is also directing, based on Will Eisner's classic crimefighter. A website for the film is now online, with more features coming soon. Also, the movie which stars Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson had some production photos leaked onto the web and you can still see them (for now) right here.

Also his graphic novel "Ronin" is getting lots of buzz and the director of "300", Zack Snyder is hard at work on an adaptation of of Alan Moore's cult classic "The Watchmen". Also this week, BoingBoing offered a vision of the cast of the story as enacted by the characters from "Peanuts" ... gotta love that!

Knoxville Library Installs Security Screening

I did not know that public libraries were hotbeds of violence - but apparently they are in Knox County. How else to explain a new program to screen visitors/patrons at random with a metal detector? I saw the report last night on WBIR, and I just can't see a reason for it. Are there some threats and dangers which the county knows but is fearful to speak of?

Library spokeswoman Mary Pom Claiborne said:

"People are getting used to (screenings) everywhere they go. You know, you can't get through the City County Building without going through one, any of the courthouses, of course, the airport, so they're really becoming a way of life in this day and age. It's unfortunate, but it's necessary," Claiborne said."

Well that worldview is sad, very sad. A way of life, she says. Given that violent acts have occurred in the locations she mentions, we should simply accept strict security measures at every location? I'm afraid the answer in America today is yes. We are afraid of each other as never before.

I noticed in their video report a few things - first, the security officer is not armed with a gun - what if a patron does try to enter carrying a couple of Glocks and and some pipe-bombs? Second, towards the end of the video, a patron empties their pockets and you can see him remove a hefty pocket knife and deposit it in the tray at the security station, a knife he then picks up to return to his pocket after being 'wanded'. Um. Isn't that a weapon?

Keep in mind that state officials have been pushing for the right of folks to carry a concealed gun into a bar. We need security checks at libraries??

Officials say this is just a test program. Of course, keeping employees and patrons safe from violent attack is a good intention. Other public libraries have similar programs, and there is of course a new 'industry model' where public libraries contract out for security measures. It's a fast-growing business.

Is the norm for the 21st century American life to be the increased reliance on private security firms and agents? As previously said, many of us seem to believe it is "unfortunate but necessary".

World's Fastest Hi-Res Printer

Starting next month, a printer which can rip out 16.5 high-resolution pages per second(!!!) is headed to consumers.

It's made by Kyocera and there is moer info here. (It must need a vast supply of ink, yes?)

Now if I just knew what piezoelectronics was ....

On A Sleepless Night

Time was when hit with some insomnia on a night in early Spring, I might have taken to the road and found some forgotten diner and sipped coffee, had some pie, maybe play the jukebox and strike an Edward Hopper moment of timelessness.

Or, more recently, there was television's endless surfing, no longer a domain where anything even close to a 'sign-off' ever appeared.

Instead tonight there is the unbounded internet, where time has no meaning, and someone has already created a page to document each soul and each soul's imagination.

A lot of silly things, really. Like the Techno Viking (he hits the streets about one minute into the video):


Or maybe French tecktonik craze, which invokes the pluralism of the intentionally ironic. (Here's a tutorial if you wish to learn how to do it right.)

I can see what people are doing these days with bacon.

Or I can read a brand-spanking new sci-fi story at Futurismic, called Mallory by Leonard Richardson (warning: profanity abounds) in a satiric jab at our connected un-connectedness.

Then there's the video presentation about the search and wonder behind the question "What did Leonardo Da Vinci really look like?"

If you seek a museum of the water-gun, or the tools of another age, or maybe old radio shows, or anything it's out there. Did you know if you just type in "what is everyone doing right now?" on Google you'll have 24 million options to choose from?

There is much to capture your attention and - wait a second ... I think my cat wants to play with some string. I'll just do that then and you keep drifting thru the web. We'll get together later.

Trucker Strike Update 2

While supporters were hoping for a response in the tens of thousands, the numbers were more in the hundreds for independent truckers attempting a nationwide strike this week. (See previous posts here and here, and a mention of this humble blog in today's Knoxville News Sentinel.) MSNBC reported a three-mile convoy of slow trucks outside Atlanta yesterday, but the protests were limited nationwide.

Talk about the frustrations, the fears, the plans and the overall impact - or lack of it - has been rising on the internet, according to Technorati's tracking, and if supporters can make a more cohesive approach to organizing online, they may draw the numbers they want (or need):

English posts that contain Truckers Strike per day for the last 30 days.
Get your own chart!

Being independent means often operating under contracts written before the high prices now at the pump, while drivers working with large corporate organizations have a simple remedy for such problems - they don't pay for the fuel costs, the company does, and when prices go up, the consumer of the products being transported are the ones who pay higher costs.

Let's say the independents can get far more participation from their own ranks. It won't bring fuel costs down. Will it spur some type of action or reaction in government or business? Or will it just put the average consumer at another disadvantage and hollow out incomes even more than they already are?

Trucker Strike Update

NOTE: For the most recent info, see this post - thanks!

I've spoken with a few friends in the trucking industry, and though they don't want to be identified, they have all said the proposed strike to protest high fuel prices hasn't got much participation in East Tennessee yet.

Still, it's worth noting that the calls for a nationwide strike by independent truckers have been constant since mid-March, such as the efforts found on a site called Trucker-To-Trucker.com.

Quite a few drivers are off the job now, and they have been talking about and debating the strike for weeks. Their effort is called Enough is Enough, and you can check out the debate here, with many comments over the last few weeks.

Independents still have major hurdles - coordinating a time for a strike, loss of income, getting the attention of the media, and the fact that the number of independent truck drivers are just a small percentage of the overall industry, about 10 percent according to estimates found here, and the writer sees the proposed strike may do more to reduce those numbers.

Some drivers may be off the road for days, some may just drive slowly to hinder traffic and gain attention, and another effort may be launched for May 1st.

I'll have some more info on this soon.

UPDATE 2:30 PM

More rumors swirl about the strike - but just as quickly as they rise, others bat them down as mere talk and speculation with little to no results.

I spoke this afternoon with Sharon Donald with Pilot Oil , who said of their Travel Centers "Everything is business as usual today. Absolutely nothing is happening," regarding a strike by independent truckers." She added the only talk about the strike she has been aware of is the talk from media sources like the cable news networks.

WBIR reports that the American Trucking Association says: Through a statement from the American Trucking Association, Tennessee's Trucking Association said they don't support the walk-off. "We would not participate in or condone any strike," ATA Public Affairs VP Clayton Boyce said. "It is hurting the wrong people and would not accomplish what they want to accomplish."

The comments on that report range from the frustrated and angry to statements of support. Also, some other sources I spoke with indicated to me they were being told to downplay any news and simply state there were more rumors than facts about the strike.

The Charleston newspaper The Post and Courier echoes the denial that a strike is taking place.

Still reports trickle in citing stoppages and delays from Chicago to Tampa though the number of those participating is very small.

One of the largest groups of independent drivers, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has been tracking the frustrations and the anger and hopes at least for increased awareness of the burden of high prices:

"We are repeatedly asked by the media if a strike will have an impact and so we remind them that it’s not just about one day, or one week; it’s about the longer term if diesel prices do not change. Truckers are consumers, too,” said Norita Taylor, OOIDA media spokesperson.

OOIDA leaders say that while the Association cannot legally support a strike, it can and does support individual truckers. The Association also encourages individual truckers to contact their lawmakers now about the fuel situation.

“We do not tell our members what to do; instead, they inform us of what they ARE doing and we support their decisions,” said Todd Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president.

Spencer said that truckers need to make it known to their elected officials that they are being exploited in the current fuel situation and that action needs to be taken to change the industry.

SEE ALSO: This message board on Topix has logged over 137 pages of comments about the calls for a nationwide strike since last week.

A Strike By Truckers Ahead?

I've seen it mentioned in the news, and likely you have too - rumblings and reports that independent truckers plan to stop driving today and are making convoys to protest the high price of fuel. Michael Silence is blogging about what's happening in Knoxville.

The Tennessean reports:

"There's nothing ever like this," said owner Derrell Clem, whose firm operates 23 trucks. "Fuel prices are unfair to the trucking industry.

Clem said he planned to close his business for two or three days starting today because of diesel prices that have soared 40 percent in the past year to a national average of $4.02 a gallon. Diesel prices in the Nashville area were $3.91 a gallon on average Monday, up from $2.76 a year ago, according to the latest AAA fuel price survey.

Clem said he pays $230,000 to $240,000 a month in fuel to keep his small fleet of trucks rolling, delivering merchandise to supermarkets, auto supply companies and other clients.

"I think if something doesn't happen they are going to put the small companies completely out of business," Clem said.

It was hard to gauge the extent of truckers' protests on Monday or predict whether there would be any economic ripple effects if products weren't delivered to stores, warehouses or factories on time.

In some states, independent haulers said they would park trucks for two or three hours or drive more slowly on the highway even if it meant disrupting traffic.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol said it plans to monitor the situation on highways here."

In Georgia, reports say plans are being made for a full nationwide strike on April 3rd. Congress has questions for the nation's oil industry (again).

After seeing so many emails in the past urging drivers to boycott one gasoline company or another for one day, this may be a good opportunity to make a more potent statement. Would you join these truckers for a one-day boycott of all driving and all gasoline purchases?

Digital Delusions

Call me digitally dumb or digitally delusional.

It's just that keeping up with the constant flow of technological change usually results in me standing alone with a stupefied look on my face. I ponder on it, trying to maintain a useful footing in the digital world, but such footing always seems to be tentative.

I was reading about the federally mandated change to television broadcasting, which will bring about the end of analog television next February. The FCC has sold off the broadcast spectrum for analog now, for nearly 20 billion dollars. Some fear that the once-freely available signals have been gobbled up by telecom giants. Some folks are supposed to get vouchers to buy digital converters for their TV sets through a federal subsidy.

It just seems odd to me that the government is mandating a change which was already taking place and forced it to all change at a particular moment. Was that really necessary to push it along?

Only time can answer who will benefit the most and the best from the changes.

In my world, I confess to having cobbled together a variety of ill-fitting components to access the digital world. Old computers lay around like old transistor radios here. I'm on a mega-fast broadband internet access yet I use this keyboard designed for typewriters back in the 1800s. In the basement, hundreds of big, black, flat discs called LPs sit wondering where the heck the turntable went to. There is a cassette player in my truck which does not work anymore, and I have a portable CD player instead, which is an ungainly monster compared to the sleek and tiny iPods and MP3 players many others have instead.

In order to be current, it seems I should have one of those wee audio devices which can hold thousands of songs, and a plasma Hi-Def television with 5.1 digital sound, and a phone which can take still and moving images, store music, connect to the internet and text-messaging machine and I don't even know what else I am not doing. Should I be live-blogging my life via a Blackberry instead of sitting in front of a computer?

Do I want to actually take the time to reconfigure the old turntable and download LPs to a digital format to store in a wee audio device? Do I really want to transfer the music I own on CDs for wee audio device storage?

I've tried discerning if the sound quality of an MP3 file or a wav or a wmv, ogg, MP3Pro, AAC, AAIF, MPEG4 with that of what used to be called CD-quality and what was once available on on the old analog LP. My untrained ears do notice a loss of quality on the iPod and iPod-like wee audio devices, but who am I to question the Advance of Civilization?

Still, there are so many excellent new ways to live and communicate and even manufacture goods for the world to consume. A recent Wired article talks about the ability to create, manufacture and sell products in minutes, with companies like Ponoko, and on-demand manufacturing service. No factory need be built or contracted, just ship them a design for furniture or clothing and they create it only when they get an order for a product. But I cringe at using words like "instaprenuer".

And to dare mention my eccentric concerns makes me something of a fossil as I straddle the analog and the digital worlds. Some less tech-savvy folks might think me a wizard, other far more tech-savvy and affluent folks think me a caveman.

After all, I still read books. I barely can write useful code. The future may have no need for me whatsoever. The future is making itself.

Weekly Best Of Tennessee Blogs

Returning roundup of what the best bloggers in Tennessee are talking about, via TennViews:

• 10,000 Monkeys and a Camera: Five Years. 4000 Dead.

• 55-40 Memphis: So the Clintons want Obama to lose to McCain, so Bill is still in power and Hillary has a shot at the presidency in four years.

• Aunt B.: Why, you may ask, are toll roads in Tennessee a stupid idea?

• BlountViews: Our education system is preparing students for jobs that do not even exist.

• Carole Borges: At a time when our economy is grinding to a halt, why outsource this plum contract to a foreign firm?

• The Crone Speaks: Shorter version, protect the companies, screw the people, and let’s not deal with correcting the economic bubble.

• Cup of Joe Powell: My Congressman thinks I'm an idiot.

• Don Williams: How Arthur C. Clarke’s voice of cosmic wonder changed OUR lives.

• The Donkey's Mouth: The scurrilous claims made by a fellow Republican about the inappropriate use of campaign funds could be a problem for Blackburn further on down the road.

• Enclave: The voters are leaving party leaders in the dust today, in the rodeo dust of a Ft. Worth Coliseum.

• Fletch: The Tao of Dinghy

• KnoxViews: Scenic Vista Act update (Bonus: Spirited Democratic primary strengthens candidates and the party)

• Lean Left: But, aside from setting the Republican double standard in concrete for all to see, Rice’s remarks are kind of amusingly pathetic.

• Left of the Dial: More lottery suspicions

• Left Wing Cracker: After this, it doesn't matter. She can win in Pennsylvania but it doesn't matter, her campaign will end unsuccessfully.

• Liberadio: Dana Perino is so uncomfortable answering for President Bush’s crimes against humanity that I almost feel sorry for her.

• Loose TN Canon: Hobbs deleted my comments!

• NewsComa: Newspapers, this is the new world of communication and how news is evolving.

• Pesky Fly: The only credible conclusion I can come to is that Mark Penn, whose lobbying firm is run by one of McCain's top advisors, is simply teeing up Obama for a general election sweep.

• Progressive Nashville: Insurance companies don't want you to use the insurance. They just want you to pay for it.

• Resonance: What's the point in holding elections if the delegates need not honor the results?

• RoaneViews: Congressman Lincoln Davis... Relaxed

• Russ McBee: In Dick Cheney's mind, the misguided and mendacious decisions made by his "boss" are somehow more of a burden than the loss felt by those 4,000 families.

• Sean Braisted: Now, in an effort to show that Hillary Clinton is the only person left running for President who can answer a phone past 2:30AM, she tries to tie the economy to late-night/early-morning phone calls:

• Sharon Cobb: Another day, another lie from Hillary

• Silence Isn't Golden: (W)ine in the grocery store won't drive the big-spending customers away from the retailers.

• Southern Beale: President Bush and his economic advisers assume that people will rush off to WalMart to load up on more cheap Chinese-made crap they don’t need as soon as the check arrives.

• Tennessee Guerilla Women: If the old guard Democrats were to succeed at pushing the woman off the Democratic ticket only to face a Black woman on the Republican ticket, that would mean there really is a goddess and she really is pissed.

• TennViews: New challenger in TN Senate 4th District

• Vibinc: No one is going to heal the divisions, fix the crime, educate our kids, stop the cycle of poverty, or lower teen pregnancy and infant mortality for us Memphis, we have to do it for ourselves.

• Whites Creek Journal: There is a serious problem for both Clinton and McCain in this election cycle... They are both up against an honest person.

• Women's Health News: Nipple Ring as National Security Threat

Does Earth Hour Mean Anything to You?

Yesterday millions of humans all over the planet joined an 'initiative to raise awareness' called Earth Hour and turned off lights and other electrical equipment for 60 minutes. Mention was often made in most news reports of the lights being turned off at the Sydney Opera House. I know it's notable as the location is a widely known landmark. I'm not sure that an unlit Opera House qualifies as a sacrifice.

I understand the goal was to 'raise awareness' or 'educate' folks about the issues of energy usage.

Still, I wonder what the typical response would be if, say, that TVA decided they would 'raise awareness' by eliminating all electrical power to every customer they serve for one hour. Howls of calamity and forced suffering would likely follow. But such an effort would seem to be far more educational than voluntary electrical reduction.

1.6 billion humans live without any electricity every day - here's a link to a satellite image of the planet at night.

Granted, fewer people live without electricity today than ever before.

And perhaps it is worthwhile to break through those protective cocoons of affluence for sixty minutes and hope that folks begin to consider life beyond/without gadgets and luxuries. Perhaps.

Having had the luxury of my own life which has lasted now for decades, I can recall when the idea of enviromental awareness began to emerge and I witnessed the beginning of what we now call Earth Day. They used to give away free 'ecology stickers' in boxes of Super Sugar Crisp cereal. (Thanks to the mighty electrical memories of the internet, these trinkets have been preserved.) If science could somehow harness the energy created when an 11-year-old consumes a box of sugar-laden cereal .....

Back then I decided I would build an energy-independent house, an underground home lit by a central atrium and by solar panels so I would not have to pay for or waste energy.

Yeah, I should definitely do that.

And I want my personal anti-gravity vehicle too.

Like so many others who share this wee spinning planet, I have good intentions.

Camera Obscura: Most Bizarre TV Ever; Where's John Hughes?; Hank Kimball Meets Satan

The oddest moment in TV show history may well have occurred on March 4, 2001 in the pilot episode of "The Lone Gunmen", a spin-off from "X-Files", about three conspiracy-minded fellows who battle ... well, they battle conspiracies.

In their first episode (one of only 12 made) the trio discovers a plot by the government to crash an airliner into the World Trade Center, just six months before it actually happened. You can watch the full episode here online.

This week at the ongoing Paley Festival, the "X-Files" and "Lone Gunmen" creators talked about the odd coincidence:

"It was freaky, and one of the weirdest things is no one really asked us about it," Carter says. "It had been imagined before, by many others."

"Condoleezza Rice is saying its an unimaginable crime -- hello, my pilot!" adds "Lone Gunmen" actor Dean Haglund.

"It made me angry," Spotnitz says. "It was not unimaginable. My first thought was ... 'Oh my god, I hope they weren't copycatting the Lone Gunmen, which they weren't. My next thought was: 'Why weren't we prepared for this?' "

Was it just a fleeting moment of unconscious absorption of ideas already being created in reality? All I know is, watching the episode is too eerie for words, especially as you see the lead characters grab the controls of the airliner and steer it past the steel and glass exterior of the WTC, missing it by inches.

-----

A report in this week's LA Times (no, not that one) brought up a few memories and reminded me that once upon a time, the movies of John Hughes were hailed as classic cinema but it's been 17 years since he has stood behind the camera.

The creator of such teen comedies as "The Breakfast Club", "Sixteen Candles", "Home Alone", "Vacation", and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" has pretty much fallen into obscurity. He doesn't do interviews, he doesn't write or make movies although he is credited with influencing many movies today, like the story credit for new comedy "Drillbit Taylor".

I never really cared much for any of his movies myself, though most of my friends just loved them. It isn't that they were terrible movies, it was that they seemed to be trying way to hard to be trendy, hip and teen. And they really don't hold up very well after all these years, with a few exceptions.

"Vacation" still makes me laugh. Three bad sequels followed, but the original is a fine thing. The script was based on a short story Hughes which he published in National Lampoon under the title "Vacation '58". Also while working at Lampoon, he and writer P.J. O'Rourke created a hilarious parody of a Sunday newspaper for the imaginary town of Dacron, Ohio which was just genius. (This project was a sequel of sorts for the funniest high school parody of all time, Lampoon's High School Yearbook Parody also set in Dacron, Ohio in a school named for Tennessee's very own C. Estes Kefauver. I've had muscle spasms from the insane laughter which comes with reading that thing. Just reading the names under the tiny, tiny pics of all the underclassmen was one of the funniest experiences of my life.

Anyway, back to Hughes. His very best film is still "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", a celebration of non-conformity, the city of Chicago, of youth against authority, and of life itself. As the school secretary explains to the Principal about Ferris: "Oh, he's very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude."

Hughes is living in Chicago still, but without an agent and not seeking work in Hollywood at all. I'd like to think he's living a Ferris-style life, taking it easy, enjoying the good things in life and not worrying about what the kids are doing or what the adults are doing.

-----

In the wee hours of the morning this Friday/Saturday on Turner Classic Movies Underground series, a fine thriller/horror story called "Brotherhood of Satan" will be shown and there is an odd story behind this movie. Released in 1971, the movie was produced by Alvy Moore, aka Hank Kimball from "Green Acres", and his partner L.Q. Jones. Jones was a regular in many Sam Peckinpah movies, like "The Wild Bunch", and in "Brotherhood" Jones cast his 'Wild Bunch" co-star Strother Martin as the leader of some aging, backwoods Satanists.

Moore and Jones made this movie and one other in the early '70s, the cult classic "A Boy and His Dog."

It's always seemed most curious to me how these two longtime character actors decided a bizarre Harlan Ellison story about a telepathic dog and another tale about a gang of old coots who worship Satan would be the movies they wanted to produce. Then again, Hank Kimball was one of oddest characters among the strange world of "Green Acres". The show remains as the best example of what would happen if "Waiting For Godot" were made into a TV show.

-----

One more movie to watch for this weekend airs Sunday at midnight on the Sundance Channel called "Silk".

"Silk" is an horror/C.S.I.-inspired tale about the capture of some ghosts, but don't discard it just yet. Yes, Asian ghost movies are everywhere. But this one is very, very well made and comes wrapped in a weird blend of a police investigation and the science of anti-gravity devices. Seems a way has been made to create anti-gravity devices, but the device is powered by ghosts. Yes, I know, it's a weird idea to blend into a police story, but the fact remains the movie is quite good. It's never boring, is well acted and is loaded with creepy supernatural atmosphere.

Really, it's worth a look.

More Bad News On Red Light Cameras

Bloggers have been noting that the traffic traps at red lights are bringing plenty of trouble. Mike Silence notes, as does Music City Bloggers, that Nashville and Chattanooga have been abusing the programs to earn more money.

And this week in Morristown, officials were told the presence of the red light cameras may actually cause more accidents while creating revenue:

"The rigorous studies clearly show red-light cameras don't work," said lead author Barbara Langland-Orban, professor and chair of health policy and management at the USF College of Public Health.

"Instead, they increase crashes and injuries as drivers attempt to abruptly stop at camera intersections," added Langland-Orban, who said elderly drivers with slower reaction times are the ones most frequently involved in rear-end crashes at camera intersections.

In Greensboro, N.C., collisions at busy intersections jumped by 40 percent after the cameras were installed, according to the study. Studies conducted in Virginia and Ontario produced similar results."

Sadly, it looks like these scams continue to spread and only after dire results will cities rescind and reject them.

An Old Friend Is A Rising Star

A new movie opening this weekend at the IFC Center is a film-festival favorite called "Shotgun Stories" and I am happy to see my old friend Mike Abbott playing a major part and wanted to help spread the word about this film. It's slated for a Nashville screening at the Belcourt in June.

I met Mike waaaay back in the early 1990s when he was just a young teen actor and performer living here in Morristown with his parents and going to high school, and since he began his career in earnest, he has found terrific success. I'm not surprised - he was a most energetic and inventive performer, somewhat fearless, and very talented. "Shotgun Stories" had a write-up today in the NYTimes, calling the movie: "The film is a here-and-now American potboiler and a stripped-down parable that can be appreciated by any culture."

The story is set in modern-day Arkansas and focuses on two clans of warring brothers, both fathered by the same man - once a raging alcoholic who did not even give his sons proper names, he abandons them, finds his way to sobriety and then starts another family. At his funeral, the two families, one stuck in poverty, the other more affluent, and immediately clash and begin a brutal feud. Mike plays the the role of a son named Cleaman.

The official website of the movie is here, complete with a very compelling trailer. The movie has earned very high praise from Roger Ebert, Variety (which called the acting here "pitch-perfect"), and has earned awards at numerous U.S and foreign festivals. Fine work by a first time director, Jeff Nichols.

And poor Mike says in his recent email he's had to travel to Italy for a screening at a Festival in Alba, saying "The cheese was good. The wine was even better." Yeah, I'm sure you're suffering, bucko. He also just got engaged (a moment captured by a NY television station as he popped the question in Times Square on New Year's Eve).

His alumni notes from the North Carolina School of the Arts has more on Mike's work:

Michael will be playing Brick in a '08 National tour of "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" with Montana Repertory. Michael has appeared Off Broadway in productions of; "Othello", "Taming of the Shrew", and "Pudd'nhead Wilson"(Lucille Lortel). His regional theatre credits include; "Bat Boy:The Musical"(Portland Center Stage), "Dearly Departed"(Tennessee Repertory Theatre), and the World Premiere production of "BROTHER WOLF"(Traid Stage), among others. He has appeared in numerous workshop productions (including "The Duke & The Duchess" starring two-time Academy Award Nominee, Sylvia Miles), is a member of John Houseman's acclaimed 'Acting Company', and has appeared nationally as Elvis Presley (including The Kennedy Center and the HBO & BRAVO Networks).

Still, congrats go to the boy - sorry, Mike, you'll always be younger than me and thus a boy. He's been most successful on the stage in New York and I'm sure the movies will welcome his work. Keep your eye out for him. Oh hey - I did find this picture. He looks mean, doesn't he?

Battle To A Stalemate

The enormous cost of the full blown battle to a stalemate - aka the war in Iraq - is still being calculated, and sadly will continue to be tallied for years to come. A very comprehensive account of the pure symphony of bad decisions of the Bush administration was just presented on the PBS news show "Frontline" on Monday and Tuesday. Though if you have been only a tiny bit alert, you'll recall most of these very public fumbles of foreign policy. (And you can watch the 4 and a half hours of the program here online.)

Like many other Americans, I never thought moving into military action against Iraq, especially the way the Bush administration handled it, was good or just or intelligent. I write this today not to indict anyone, but to offer some hopefulness that the true nature of American ideals will emerge and correct our passage. I admit that I have grave doubts of such wisdom emerging. Perhaps, at best, we will simply reach the end of an era of failures.

We have witnessed years of consistently poor leadership, marked by emotional infighting and herky-jerky policies and strategies, which have left the nation in a war-ravaged mess. The cold reality with us today is that we remain years away from a clear resolution to the war. Pulling out now is no solution, continuing with current strategies (or the lack of them) is likewise no solution.

I am not one of those people who see the President as the sole motivator and source of all things good and bad in America. But to deny a constant pattern of failed and foolish decisions which had dire consequences is to ignore what history will soon confirm. His appointed leaders of so many agencies - from the Justice Dept. to FEMA - have left wide-ranging wreckage. His administration has demanded revisions to our notions of liberty with no sign of improvement. Far from it.

Not long after taking office, President Bush was quoted as saying that he and the Congress should strive to earn "from our fellow citizens the highest possible praise: Well done, good and faithful servants.". There's no doubt that whatever else is said, few will use such words to describe the last eight years of leadership.

My Congressman Thinks I'm An Idiot

I received a bulk mail flyer from 1st District Congressman David Davis who sought to inform me on the actions I can take to decrease the price of gas and the cost of oil. He wrote about three ways I can "save gas", all of which indicate Rep. Davis thinks I am dumber than a stump, as if I had never ever considered these actions to improve fuel efficiency.

1. Drive slower. Or as he writes "Drive more efficiently. Aggressive driving, speeding and rapid acceleration lower your gas mileage by 33%." Jeez, really? If I had just gotten my learner's permit and sat behind the wheel for the first time in my life, his advice might be valuable. I wonder if he is aware that the most typical changes in automobile engines in recent years have been engines which accelerate more rapidly? I wonder if he knows the Model T got an average of 25 mpg, about the same average MPG found today??

2. Don't use your vehicle to transport anything. Or as he writes "Keeping unnecessary weight in your vehicle also reduces gas mileage. For every 100 pounds in your vehicle, your gas mileage can drop 2% and you can save 6 cents per gallon." Is he saying I need to lose weight and cut the current price of my gas from 3.26 to 3.20? Thanks. Since I am often faced with the issue of buying food or gas, I suppose I should eliminate food and get the gas and save 6 cents when I lose 100 pounds.

3. "When traveling long distances, use cruise control." Does this mean I must buy a new vehicle since the one I have does not have cruise control?

4. Make sure my tires are inflated. Here, he writes that if I don't have enough air in my tires, my mileage might decrease by 2%. Again, if I had never operated a vehicle before, such info might be useful.

The cover of the flyer features some shadowy person hoisting an AK-47, a ball of fire and an oil well. I am not sure what he means by this - is it that he is willing to spend American lives to gain control of foreign oil fields, perhaps decreasing the cost of oil by 5 or 10 % while expending vast sums of tax dollars and using American troops to take what we do not own?

Thanks so much, Rep. Davis. Your bulk mail delivery used untold amounts of energy for no purpose whatsoever. It did increase my blood pressure, but did diddly-squat to address the rising costs of oil and gasoline.