Are You What You Like?

PBS Frontline aired a program titled "Generation Like", exploring the rapid spread and rise of online activity on social media websites, which left me with several thoughts.

-- Social media users disgorge details of their lives to the world while that info is collected and sorted and stored for numerous business activities, especially marketing. But who is using who?

-- Is the world (well those parts with constant online access) joined in a brave new conversation? Are users just seeking validation via shared enthusiasms?

-- The multi-faceted chain of events which follow when a user clicks a Like button or retweets or reblogs something is vast. The reductive nature of the Like concept also is vastly multi-layered, but it strikes me as a sort of yearning for less loneliness, and a plea we share to seek some change to thought or action. "Like" encapsulates so very much.

-- Optimistically, I'm thinking the rudimentary hunt for Likes and Shares are akin to the early stages of communication, and the creation of a self identity. Optimistic, I say, but only time will reveal if people are growing, devolving, or headed into an unknown social construct.

Keeping Time in Tennessee

I mentioned earlier (in Time) the state legislature is debating a bill to stop the back and forth of Daylight Savings Time. To clarify, sponsors want Tennessee to stay forever in DST.

Some fret over the state's businesses having to adjust with other states over the time differences, though really don't we have to do that anyway?

I have no clue what might have prompted this proposal - the change or lack of it seems capricious. Still, I'd sure like it if the changes would just stop. That said, does the idea really merit legislative debate?

KnoxViews has opinions on the debate.

Tom Humphrey talks about the debate too.

What say you? 

Did Bribery Bring Red Light Cameras?

A lawsuit points to widespread bribery and gifts paving the way for the arrival and use of red light cameras in Tennessee and other states.

KnoxViews has some details.

Nashville Scene notes the cities in Tennessee - including my own here in Morristown - which should be examined.

Turn Left At Greenland - The Beatles and America

It's my earliest memory.

Watching The Beatles on TV on a Sunday in February 1964.

I was only three but this event was new, different. I can recall there was some yelling involved - my siblings were yelling and singing while watching TV standing up and jumping around. That was not they way we usually watched TV.

There had been some yelling before that too - some serious tension from my parents who did not think this Beatles thing on a Sunday of all days was good. It was bad.

Youth won out. My brother and sister and I watched it all.

My minister father really disapproved. And yet by the end of the 1960s, his hair was growing over his collar and his sideburns had gotten long. 

That night in 1964 quickly changed everything - music, clothes, politics, religion, family, fame, and much more. Billions of words have been written about every note, every song, every person linked to the band, and more arrive every day.

It's good - great even - to know I was there that night. To grow up listening to the music, waiting for new albums and new singles to get released. It seemed each release pushed at the limits of imagination. 

I've learned since that night how much work the band put into all they did. Work which changed how music was written, recorded and marketed. Business changed. Families changed. Lives changed.

Changing the world with music. It's a primal force, which many have tried to duplicate - none have.

50 years later, we all live in a world those four musicians remade. 

State Ponders Dropping Out of Daylight Savings Time

A bill has been filed to exempt the state from observing Daylight Savings Time, from Rep. Curry Todd and Sen. Janice Bowling.

I'd sure like the time changes to stop and for us to just have one time system. But there will likely be passionate debate on the topic for and against. Some things, unlike Time, never change.

Double-Secret Government in Tennessee?

"Don't ask me about my business." 

Questions for Gov. Haslam via Speak to Power:

"It would be unremarkable if this were the first time Haslam claimed special privileges to cloak his office’s doings from the public, but it’s not.

Today’s snub to transparency is part of a much larger pattern of secrecy —

• secretive relationships with high-powered lobbyists
• preference for secret tax deals with big corporations
• hiding his tax returns
• executive order to hide his income
• hidden loans to business partners
• secret pay raises for his department chiefs
• secret political slush funds

The closed-door meetings with old business partners who suddenly win no-bid contracts, the constant special interest dealing and unprecedented secrecy have wholly undermine his credibility with anyone paying attention to his actions.

85 People Own Half of the World

A study from Oxfam reveals a mere 85 people own nearly half the assets of our planet. And that means it takes combining the assets of 3.5 billion people to match what those 85 have. It's not the result of a "free market", says Oxfam. It's a calculated effort of corruption.

"The Oxfam report found that over the past few decades, the rich have successfully wielded political influence to skew policies in their favour on issues ranging from financial deregulation, tax havens, anti-competitive business practices to lower tax rates on high incomes and cuts in public services for the majority. Since the late 1970s, tax rates for the richest have fallen in 29 out of 30 countries for which data are available, said the report. This "capture of opportunities" by the rich at the expense of the poor and middle classes has led to a situation where 70% of the world's population live in countries where inequality has increased since the 1980s and 1% of families own 46% of global wealth - almost £70tn."

A  confession of sorts from a former hedge-fund manager published this week in the NYTimes blames "wealth addiction".

But that's not the problem says Salon:

"The story starts 40 years ago when most of the economic profession made the argument that deregulated markets could solve all our problems by creating more and more wealth for society. By cutting taxes on the rich, there would be more incentive to create new enterprises and jobs, and higher incomes would then flow to all—all boats would rise. By getting government out of the economy, business would be free to innovate and grow.

This push for massive tax cuts and deregulation, however, unleashed Wall Street much more than it did the “real” economy —the part that produces tangible goods and services. In fact, it led to the destruction of much of American manufacturing as financiers (corporate raiders; private equity firms like Mitt Romney’s) hollowed out corporation after corporation, loading each up with debt, and then squeezing its workforce as much as possible, including replacing it entirely by shifting the facility overseas.

Instead the “innovation” took the form of junk bonds, offshore accounts, high-risk mortgages, derivatives, CDOs and a myriad of financial tricks that step by step moved money away from productive industry and shoved into the pockets of Wall Street."

Changing Your Outraged Brain

I'm seldom a fan of the material found in Psychology Today magazine. But I noted an article this week about words and the physical effects words have on our brains and bodies.

Negative words flood the brain and body with chemicals and emotions and studies indicate the brain and body react to one negative word while a positive word has to be repeated to create similar impacts.

There are recent discussions about the apparent rise in what's being called the "Outrage Industry", as daily and hourly we see and hear stories and events which are meant to evoke powerful emotions. Some might say the public is addicted to outrage.

Way back in the mid-90s, I knew a fellow who listened every day to 6 or 7 hours of angry radio rantings from Boortz and Limbaugh and others. Day after day after day, he became sullen and angry and just plain mean. For him the world was an Us versus Them place locked in a holy war. I found it quite sad to watch him devolve into a hating machine. He became physically ill, and nearly died.

The article noted above indicates that while our brains react immediately to negative words to combat danger. A positive word, a Yes, does not do that. One researcher says a person needs 3 or 5 Yeses to equal the effects of one No.

It's very easy to drown in the oceans of outrage, some folks constantly bellow about The End of Everything.

And while negative commentary on our shared worlds can be found in abundance in the posts here on my blog, I've tried to balance that with the positive or humorous or even the silly.

So what follows is nothing less than an effort to add to the positive. Read the list of words below. You can even say them out loud and effect even more powerful change, and if others hear you, that change will spread. You can repeat this act every day too. Ready?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

TennCare Requires Enrollment on Imaginary Online System

$35 million spent for a required online system to obtain TennCare - but it doesn't exist. Tennessee politicians have made sure to fight healthcare reform at every step, no matter who gets hurt.

"The state committed $35.7 million -- $32 million of that in federally allocated money -- to a three-year contract with global cybersecurity contractor Northrop Grumman to create a new system called the "Tennessee Eligibility Determination System," or "TEDS," which will result in a new TennCare application website.

But the project, which started in December 2012, is not completed -- and there is no projection as to when it will be finished, Gunderson said."

Your History Is Being Rewritten

A chaotic event or even a mundane event might be recorded, then rewritten, then disappear, be rediscovered and rewritten many times. The furious speed at which information goes through these changes is mind boggling. These days, history is not written by winners of conflicts, it is endlessly revised by whim.

Writer William Gibson spoke about this in an interview with the Paris Review:

"Of course, all fiction is speculative, and all history, too—endlessly subject to revision. Particularly given all of the emerging technology today, in a hundred years the long span of human history will look fabulously different from the version we have now. If things go on the way they’re going, and technology keeps emerging, we’ll eventually have a near-total sorting of humanity’s attic.

In my lifetime I’ve been able to watch completely different narratives of history emerge. The history now of what World War II was about and how it actually took place is radically different from the history I was taught in elementary school. If you read the Victorians writing about themselves, they’re describing something that never existed. The Victorians didn’t think of themselves as sexually repressed, and they didn’t think of themselves as racist. They didn’t think of themselves as colonialists. They thought of themselves as the crown of creation.

We’ve gotten so used to emergent technologies that we get anxious if we haven’t had one in a while."

Whether the event is the recent chaos in Benghazi or the hysteria over "Duck Dynasty", our society seeks out revision over resolution.

Little Tree - A Christmas Gift

little tree
little silent Christmas tree
you are so little
you are more like a flower

who found you in the green forest
and were you very sorry to come away?
see i will comfort you
because you smell so sweetly

i will kiss your cool bark
and hug you safe and tight
just as your mother would,
only don't be afraid

look     the spangles
that sleep all the year in a dark box
dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,
the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,

put up your little arms
and i'll give them all to you to hold
every finger shall have its ring
and there won't be a single place dark or unhappy

then when you're quite dressed
you'll stand in the window for everyone to see
and how they'll stare!
oh but you'll be very proud

and my little sister and i will take hands
and looking up at our beautiful tree
we'll dance and sing
"Noel Noel" 

little tree
By e.e. cummings

News Photos of 2013

Boston's Big Picture website always boasts stunning photography, and their year end roundup of news photos from around the world is also an impressive collection. (Click to enlarge.)

Above, a shot from massive wildfires in Australia in January of this year. 

Here's an image from August in Egypt ad that nation struggles to reinvent itself.

There are three parts to this year's collection - Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Are There No Workhouses??

Last year Republican legislators in Tennessee wanted to tie benefits for food, clothing and shelter to a child's grades in school. Now there's another execrable idea targeting needy children again. At least this chucklehead is from Georgia.

The idea: make poor kids sweep up the lunchroom in order to be fed. 

He also opines kids lack work ethics at schools and they do nothing yet earn respect and benefits. He joins the Mythmakers who think schools are the hard scrabble exclusive proving grounds teaching that it's a dog-eat-dog world.

Go into any school and I'll promise you you'll find students working on many assigned jobs, from cleaning to oversight of classrooms, grounds, and more. All students are involved, regardless of their parents' income.

And yeah, you will change the world if you demonize hungry children. Just not for the better.

Court Porn and Prisons For Profit

The seemingly inexhaustible Organs for Outrage gobbles up one life after another, a ravenous appetite worthy of the monster of some ancient myth.

A recent feast arrives via the Texas court case of a 16 year old boy from a wealthy family who is guilty of killing 4 and paralyzingly another. The judge accepted the notion his fabulously well to do life excused him from jail time and instead ordered the boy spend time in a rehab center and stay on probation for 10 years. Cue the Outrage.

Does America have a slathering hunger for tales of crime and punishment? The huge numbers of "court/judge tv shows" or the insatiable court porn via shows like that of Nancy Grace point to a real hunger. 

However it could just be that so many Americans have experienced long and short encounters with the judicial system that the attraction is made more of shared experiences than gallows addiction.

I'm leaning towards that idea, given that jails today are the fertile lands of for profit companies which demand states sign decades-long contracts with guarantees that states keep the jails at 90% or higher occupancy rates.

While society benefits most from a prison/judicial system which re-educates and rehabilitates offenders, private corporations benefit most from endless inmates, harsher sentencing, and un-rehabilitated offenders. 

SEE ALSO: "A U.S. Justice Department report released on November 30 showed that a record 7 million people -- or one in every 32 American adults -- were behind bars, on probation or on parole at the end of last year. Of the total, 2.2 million were in prison or jail." (Via)

China Lands On Moon, Deploys Rover

This morning China became the third nation (after the U.S. and USSR) to safely land a craft on the moon's surface, touching down in the Bay of Rainbows.

Space.com has pics of the landing and details of the mission of the robotic rover to be deployed.

China's ambitious plans for robotic and human exploration of the lunar surface comes as the nation is also expanding their claims on air and land on Earth. 

Full coverage of the historic event here.

Annual Christmas Caption Contest

Once more, a holiday image I'm asking you to caption. 

Post yours in the comments and the best entry will receive a fantastic prize! What prize? Only those who enter the contest will know!

Here is a caption to get you started:

"Miley Twerkmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Black Friday Crime Roundup

A handy glimpse at the national crime wave known as Black Friday 2013:

"On Black Friday, thousands of Walmart employees and union supporters staged protests to demand annual wages of at least $25,000 for the 825,000 workers who make less than that amount and supplement their incomes with an average of $1,000 annually in Medicaid and food stamps. “The protest is sad,” said a Southern California shopper, “because Walmart has good prices.” Police arrested a man dressed as Santa Claus outside an Ontario, California, Walmart; a shopper stabbed and pulled a gun on another shopper during a dispute over a parking space outside a Claypool Hill, Virginia, Walmart; police pepper-sprayed one shopper and ticketed another for spitting on a stranger’s child at a Garfield, New Jersey, Walmart; a police officer was hospitalized for injuries sustained while breaking up a fight outside a Rialto, California, Walmart; and a bomb threat led police to evacuate a White Plains, New York, Walmart. “Black Friday is the Super Bowl of retail,” said Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon. “We ran a play that only Walmart could deliver.” 

Sen. Alexander Hates Your Stupid Talking

I'm not sure how it happened, but Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander really, really does not like to hear you talking on the phone:

"Stop and think about what we hear now in airport lobbies from those who wander around shouting personal details into a microphone: babbling about last night’s love life, bathroom plans, next week’s schedule, orders to an assistant, arguments with spouses. Imagine this noise while you travel, restrained by your seatbelt, unable to escape."

TN High School Coaches Gone Wild

High school football rivalry went weird this month in Marion County. Three coaches face criminal charges and the head coach has resigned after a bizarre prank was revealed.

Seems the assistant coaches wanted to motivate their team against rival South Pittsburgh by faking vandalism attacks. Too bad the coaches got their supplies at the local Walmart while wearing their school colors. After investigating, police also learned the coaches had broken into rival schools to steal playbooks.

Head coach McCurry says it all went wrong because of Love: "The last thing he told me was to tell the boys I love them," Marion County High School Principal Larry Ziegler said."

This wacky act is actually a sort of re-enactment of a Robin Williams movie, "The Best of Times". Williams' character tries to rouse his town by pretending to be a rival team vandalizing the school. His scheme failed too.

Bitcoin - Imaginary, Virtual, or The New Dollar?

I barely comprehend the nature of currency and money, but Bitcoin is a Thing, a new way to pay merchants and to garner investments. And now I'm attempting to learn about "cryptocurrency".

The Senate is trying to puzzle it out, and already the Federal Election Commission says Bitcoin is legal for political donations.

Bitcoin transactions are also being used by a proposed "assassination" agency.

As is so often the case, I have no understanding of what is happening except to observe that something is happening.

Art Prices Too High or Too Low?

Recent auctions for artworks have set record high prices, bringing out again a debate about the real value of Art.

Some $58 million for Jeff Koons' "Balloon Dog (Orange)" and over $142 million for Bacon's "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" are prompting talk of "obscene wealth" and "paintings my 5 year old could make".

As someone who works in the Arts in America, these prices are not the norm - most people balk at paying more than $200 for any painting, sculpture, photo, or even a story. Lots of Art experts emerge to opine on what is or isn't Art. But these debates seldom increase the value in our society of Art or artists.

"Some have tried to put things into perspective, lamenting that the Bacon price almost equaled the $154 million that President Obama requested for the National Endowment for the Arts for fiscal year 2013 — and more than the $138 million that the endowment actually received, with cuts.

Others have pointed out that the price would have paid, twice, for the renovated Queens Museum, which cost a modest $69 million. It has been noted once more that such figures make it impossible to see the art for the money, that works costing this much are, at least temporarily, damaged goods."

Why I Stopped Blogging

Note I said stopped not quit in my Google Trend grabbing headline. I've been absent here because all work for some weeks was directing the play "Red Velvet Cake War" for the Morristown Theatre Guild.

Above is a pic of a scene of the three heroines, Gaynelle, Peaches and Jimmie Wyvette, caught by the law after digging up and stealing a time capsule from the courthouse lawn ... for a cake recipe inside. The show is pretty much all like that - somewhat crazy but mighty funny. It's a family reunion crammed with sharp jokes written  by the trio of Jones, Hope and Wooten.

Directing and designing a show pulls me seat from writing daily here, the Art goes on the stage. Yes, otherwise the Art goes here, the Art of Blogging. More on that later - more pics from the play, which runs for only 3 more performances on Nov 15 and 16 at 8 pm and Nov 17 at 2 pm at Rose Center in Morristown. Tickets: 423-586-9260.

Peaches, Newt and Dr. Dowdall wrestle with love and destiny.

Gaynelle, wearing her "Gospel Beehive Wig Number 603", and Peaches don't really like Cousin Purvis's crushing affection.

The cast us truly stellar too, not just saying that because it's my show but because they make it their show, stuffed with hilarious fun. They are:

Cee Cee Windham .... Carli Rick

Gaynelle Verdeen Bodeen ... Sherri Jacobs

LaMerle Verdeen Minshew ... Sharon Seals

Aubrey Verdeen ... Darryl Frith

Jimmie Wyvette Verdeen ... Keela Phillips

Peaches Verdeen Belrose ... Kellie Ward

Bitsy Hargis ... Mitzi Akins

Newt Blaylock ... Alex Michael

Deputy Grover Lout ... Doyle Whitmill

Elsa Dowdall ... Lisa Frith

Mama Doll Hargis .... Sue Wisniewski

Purvis Verdeen ... Doyle Whitmill

Recent Carson-Newman grad Jessica Whitmill is the stage manager, also one of the best I've worked with. 

As for the Art of Blogging? It is a solo performance. The Art of the Stage is defined by collaboration, that seemingly elusive quality in the world today. 

One of the things the cast and I talked about was the powerful influence of creating spontaneous laughter for two hours - audiences will not leave the show with answers to life's Big Questions, but they will leave Happy. Another quality that can change the world. Theatre is an ancient Art, a fundamental layer of Community and Civilization, 

Come see the show - we've had folks from Virginia to Las Vegas attend and roar with laughter. Do yourself a great favor and laugh for a couple of hours.

The Real Complete Truth About NSA Spying

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What intelligence agency would want to dispute having that reputation?

Rise of Animals In American Politics

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

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

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

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

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

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

Palin Leads Republicans to Protest Their Own Support for Shutdown

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

Whatever goals these folks have remains elusive:

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

But where are we now?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Carrying Guns OK, But Chickens Outlawed

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

East TN Drive-In Goes Digital to Survive

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

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

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

Morristown Ranks As Least Expensive City In U.S.

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

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

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

Check out the full list of cities here.

TN Republicans Blame You For Hunger, Poverty

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

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

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

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

What's the real goal of TN Republicans? 

Rep. Roe's Weak Alternative to Health Care Reform

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

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

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

"No overall cost estimates for the bill were available.

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

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