The Other T-Shirt Banned At State Address

Some will debate whether or not Cindy Sheehan's t-shirt worn at the State of the Union address was an act worthy of expulsion.

But Florida congressman Bill Young's wife was also ejected for wearing a shirt with these words:

"Support The Troops Defending Our Freedom".

UPDATE 1/02/06 : Charges dropped for wearing a T-Shirt and apologies issued, Though my thoughts regarding the issue which I made distinct in the comments below remain the same.

Election Votes Traded for Bags of Pork Rinds

How cheap can you get? Some have given lives to preserve the voting rights of Americans, some give out packs of cigarettes and bags of pork rinds to get those votes. The report is here, about a special prosecutor's raid and search of the homes of a mayor, a councilman and his family and the acting police chief in the town of Appalachia. Allegations of fraud in the 2004 election include "buying" votes for beer, smokes, bags of pork rinds, as well as tampering with absentee ballots.

Nationally, it takes cash to get the political muscled needed to win in something like, say a presidential primary. Sen. Bill Frist has been expending the $3.5 million he raised in a single year to gather support in Iowa, where the first of the nation's presidential caucus race begins. $2000 went to the grandson of Sen, Charles Grassley, Pat who is running for state office, more to others seeking office in Iowa, as well as some to the Iowa GOP. $3.5 million will buy a buttload of pork rinds.

You Pay The Taxes They Don't

After too many years of zero local and state taxation for multi-million and billion dollar corporations, mislabled as "development and recruitment incentives", many in the public and judicial sector are beginning to see the light. The myth that "incentives" add to economic development don't hold up.

This doubt of course has put fear in the heart of lobbying groups like the Chamber of Commerce, who help to both craft the free ride on taxation and define their usefulness as "recruiters." A story in Sunday's Kingsport Times-News notes that Tennessee business groups and Chambers of Commerce are providing financing and legal briefs for a case in Ohio regarding Daimler-Chrysler against these tax freebies that's headed to the Supreme Court, and Tennessee state officials are consulting as well.

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts were established some 50 years ago to bring economic development to "blighted" areas. Today, it's a tool to seize private property and freeze tax payments for decades for enormous corporations. But more study has shown that the real costs created for communities - expanding roads, building schools, creating utilities like sewer, water and electric needs - are shifted from business to the private sector.

Reason magazine, in a recent report (which deserves your full reading) notes:

"At a time when local governmentsÂ’ efforts to foster development, from direct subsidies to the use of eminent domain to seize property for private development, are already out of control, TIFs only add to the problem: Although politicians portray TIFs as a great way to boost the local economy, there are hidden costs they donÂ’t want taxpayers to know about. Cities generally assume they are not really giving anything up because the forgone tax revenue would not have been available in the absence of the development generated by the TIF. That assumption is often wrong.

"There is always this expectation with TIFs that the economic growth is a way to create jobs and grow the economy, but then push the costs across the public spectrum,"” says Greg LeRoy, author of The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation. "“But what is missing here is that the cost of developing private business has some public costs. Road and sewers and schools are public costs that come from growth.” Unless spending is cut —and if a TIF really does generate economic growth, spending is likely to rise, as the local population grows —the burden of paying for these services will be shifted to other taxpayers. Adding insult to injury, those taxpayers may include small businesses facing competition from well-connected chains that enjoy TIF-related tax breaks. In effect, a TIF subsidizes big businesses at the expense of less politically influential competitors and ordinary citizens."

At a recent meeting of the Hamblen County Commission, one wise citizen asked commissioners and Property Tax Assessor Keith Ely just what tax breaks and incentives were being given a new projected development by the Colgate Company in Morristown. No one had any information. While it is a city industrial project, led by the state and the local chamber of commerce offices, that information is yet to be revealed. Typically, TIFs could range from seven to 30 years. All infrastructure needs created for schools for example, will be funded by the county, or in other words, the rest of the taxpaying public.

Update to You Are The Movie

This is an update to yesterday's post.

I noticed this story today, about a contest open to young people who make the best 30-second film using only their cell phones. You can view the ten finalists here.

Camera Obscura - You Are The Movie

Today, no one needs to wait to be "discovered" by a movie company in order to become a worldwide movie star. All you need is a digital camera capable of taking 30 seconds of video, or even just a cell phone that can capture a few seconds of action. Forget about getting a movie into a festival somewhere in hopes of finding a distributor too - you can have worldwide distribution in seconds flat.

Digital tech and web cams and free video-sharing web sites make it easy. One of many such sites, which I have linked to and used myself, YouTube.com, has the stats to show how the world has come to them. According to a recent report:

"YouTube.com, a leading site, had more than three million visitors in December, nearly tripling its visitation in November, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. YouTube says its users have been sharing 20,000 new videos a day and watching some 10 million daily.

One clip on YouTube is of a 12-year-old scoring a touchdown, another is of a woman burping in front of a mirror. One young man captured himself skateboarding on a treadmill.

Others are more carefully produced and edited, even set to music"
-----
"And then there's Revver, which relies on ads but shares revenues with users who submit video.

''It is a new frontier,'' said Steven Starr, Revver's chief executive. ``The migration of video onto the network is upon us, and the rules of that migration are being worked out as we speak.''

Many sites have for years offered a place for short films, animated or live-action, and around the world fans are re-creating new episodes of favorite shows one chapter at a time. Some people take anime shows and edit them to fit with pop music hits, some just lip sync "My Humps," some people confess to any type of weirdness or crime, and some "movies" just stink.

One witty wanna-be filmmaker crafted a "feel-good romantic comedy" trailer for "The Shining" which led to a three picture deal for the maker.

The world is ready for it's close-up.

The Drama of A Fearful Life

Complaining about the various and most dubious acts of the current White House and Congressional leadership seem to be as useful and effective as standing at the beach and screaming STOP!!! at the ocean's waves. The allegations of corruption in Congress, in this state and in many others, in cities and counties all across our nation are rolling out in news reports with the same continual flow of oceanic ebb and flow.

In Blog-land, many writers dutifully note these issues, and often frame their diatribes in lines conforming to one political party view or another (or should I say "deforming facts according to one party or the other"?) As Thomas Pynchon wrote: "If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers."

I did note with some interest a post Wednesday on No Silence Here about a former NSA boss speaking before the National Press Club, who was twisting the language of the 4th Amendment in order to fit with the current use of national surveillance. The full story Silence referenced is here at Editor and Publisher, which also printed the 4th Amendment. Here it is:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

And here's my big problem with the so-called Patriot Act - it by-passes the requirements of the 4th Amendment of judicial oversight, and if you are one of those who feel so scared and terrified in America that you want to change the Amendment, then please realize that can only be accomplished by Constitutional Amendment and not by a Congressional vote.

If you fear some horrible act may occur without using existing laws governing warrants, the would you please take the time to review the 1978 FISA act, which allows for issuing warrants without a court's oversight as long as BOTH the reasons and probable cause are presented to the FISA judicial authority within 72 hours. And I suppose you could interpret the amendment to the view "hey, since we can't provide 'probable cause' then we CAN issue a warrant with no judicial oversight!"

Oh, I know - these bothersome Bill of Rights and Constitutional Law require thought and reflection and (dear God!) even study. I suppose it's more dramatic and intense to feel caught in an endless war with a lurking enemy.

Life Without An Internet

At long last I return to posting on a regular basis - and I have several vital stories to share and an observation on the affects of gathering information without the Internet.

Despite the efforts of any 24 hour television news source, or the info offered on local news, the overall lack of info and the poor quality of depth such coverage provides indicates how much more vital, accurate and constant the Internet (and bloggers) are to the state, the nation and the individual. One example I noted yesterday was "news" coverage of a proposed release of an over-the-counter weight loss pill, Xenical. Both CNN, MSNBC and at least one Knoxville station "teased" the story with such headlines as "a miracle pill for weight loss", despite the facts - that at best it reduces body weight by only five percent, that side effects include loose stool, flatulence, and loss of bowel control. (Effects I'm sure the obese and those near them would not crave.)

Just one random Internet search today showed a more pertinent bit of information - sales of the drug over the counter would most benefit the drug's maker, GlaxoSmithKline. The story of this weight loss pill will be best appreciated and understood by individuals who bother to search for and read multiple sources of information on the Internet, such as this blog or this source. These, of course, are only a few of the hundreds of bits of info available.

As I've said for years, television news, along with most local newspapers, crop and chop stories to fit in small spaces in and around advertising, which has become the primary concern of many "news" organizations. Far more in-depth, dopplerized details of weather forecasts are given more time than hard news stories. A few headlines, maybe a feature on one story, and feel-good filler or celebrity gossip fill the half hour or hour newscasts. Small local papers depend on feature stories about local bigwigs and cropped and chopped news syndicate stories.

However, with the resources available on the Internet, I could easily spend an hour or more (if I wanted) to read about a single story or issue. I don't think I'm the most typical web user, but like many others, I read more than one source for info on any single news story. It takes some time to read and search and then weigh the information for usefulness and accuracy. Television especially has become the shortest of shorthand, usually with a slant on "teasing" the viewer to keep watching for the omnipresent "next big story."

Internet users and bloggers READ - perhaps that's the biggest difference. And we do spend Time using the resources for all manner of topics, from personal to business to politics and even for entertainment. Guess that means I am prejudiced in our favor.

Here's something else I noticed just last night and must comment on (before this post becomes a vast volume no one will read).

Fred Barnes, Executive Editor of the Weekly Standard, was on The Daily Show last night and actually referred to the devastation of the Gulf Coast and potentially thousands of deaths there from Hurricane Katrina as a "bump in the road" for the Bush Administration and FEMA. Good God, if that's a bump, I hope to hell there ain't no potholes. One fine local blog source for the horror and failure regarding restoring the Gulf Coast can be found at Facing South, who have been giving superb coverage to this national tragedy using many sources on the Internet.

Here's just one comment from one of Tuesday's posts by R. Neal:

"It is, however, difficult to recall an event in modern American history that encompasses such a complex set of practical, social, political, racial, and class issues, or to comprehend the work that will be needed to recover from a natural and social disaster of this magnitude."

There are many excellent and in-depth reports on Facing South by Neal and Chris Kromm about the conditions in the Gulf Coast, the consistent and systemic failure of FEMA and the Bush Administration that deserve your reading time.

A Tribute To CG

I am almost finished with re-arranging my computer and on-line operations and should be back to normal by Monday evening if all goes well.

However, I first wanted to note the comments about RTB blogger, CG - of Memphis - as noted on Friday by Julie. I hope you see her post for more about the passing of Charles and efforts by friends and family to assist with sharing information about him.

Time Out for Some Changes

The year is bringing many changes to yours truly and so for the next few days, some of these changes mean I will not be adding any new posts for the next few days.

However, I will return to post more just as soon as these changes get settled and even the casual reader here knows my work here is far from anything close to done. The world needs my voice and your comments and that work will continue in a matter of days.

Thanks for your patience - and your readership.

Tagged to Confess Weird Habits

Julie tagged me to confess/admit weird habits and again I am willing to play the meme game. Though I admit already that most of my habits seem kind of odd to me so picking out five of them has made me think of both current and past events. Part of the requirement of this particular game is to include the following paragraph, so here it is.

The first player of this game starts with the topic five weird habits of yourself, and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don't forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says You have been tagged (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.

Here's my list.

I am very klutzy and clumsy in the physical world and have been since childhood. Some examples include - cutting my elbow severely on a black walnut to the point I needed stitches; nearly cutting my hand off when I crashed through a greenhouse while attempting to act like I was Spiderman; falling on my glasses and nearly breaking them while attempting yoga exercises.

I tend to prefer sleeping with the television on, usually with the TV set on Turner Classic Movies.

I often find myself in or noticing moments and places that can best be described as Weird - such as just last night when I noticed the rather normal-looking upper class woman in front of me at the grocery check out was buying a huge tub of cat litter, a case of cat food and a copy of the Halle Berry movie "Catwoman': or the time I went solo to a nightclub in Manhattan and got admitted to the VIP bar and sat next to the midget from "Twin Peaks," for whom, of course I bought a drink.

I often wear t-shirts based on fake places from television shows, like Brak's grammar school, from "The Brak Show" and from the fake Sunnydale High School from "Buffy The Vampire Slayer."

I have only washed my pickup truck four times in 9 years. C'mon, it's a pickup truck in Tennessee, and should always be dirty.

Now then, let me tag five people to play along as well. Tags will go to LA Barabbas, Valley Grrrl, Concha Loca at Stinkhorn Rodeo, Travis In Iraq, and since I got recently Blog Rolled by Nashville Is Talking, then they are invited to play along. If any on you read this before I can email you, then please just jump in when you read this.

Camera Obscura - Winter In America's Box Office

I've noticed it before - what type of movies usually follow the Christmas and New Year's holiday? Horror movies. I'm not sure if it says more about the worldview of distributors or audiences. Perhaps both. Perhaps after it's part of a balancing act humans require - follow good will toward men with ripping and shredding and killing off everyone.

The gore-fest karma-for-hedonists feature "Hostel" took the number one slot at the box office last weekend. With credits for the movie listing "Quentin Tarantino presents" and newcomer Eli Roth as director (maker of "Cabin Fever"), critics seem to be so appalled by the grim nature of the movie they either love it for being so disturbing or hate it for being so disturbing.

Another dance with dark desires, though not horror, appears as a companion piece to "Hostel," with actor Johnny Depp as a depraved and dangerous poet and friend to aristocrats in a period movie called "Libertine." Think Evil Jack Sparrow.

Speaking of evil, I know of no other directors working today who are as hated as Uwe Boll. Web sites and discussion boards rage at his lack of ability and his constant awfulness. Some say he's the Ed Wood of the 21st century. 2006 sees his newest hit the screens with a movie based on a silly splatterfest video game called "Bloodrayne". The critics agree, it's just plain awful. But this would-be vampire movie has such odd casting I am almost intrigued - almost. Meatloaf, Udo Kier, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Madsen and the robot chick from "Terminator 3", Kristanna Lokken -- the only one missing is Snoop Dogg as Van Helsing.

Boll's company has been taking advantage of a tax loophole in Germany which allows for all movies that lose money to be used as total writeoff - though that law is changing this year and I expect Boll's career will likely end as a result. There's even a Public Service Announcement by some very unhappy gamers warning you to fear him.

Controlling Behavior Through Paychecks

A sneaky trend aimed at controlling your behavior is growing. Wrapped in the good intentions of "preventative healthcare" and "cost control", more companies are demanding employees either behave as directed or face job loss. Compare that with what happens if an employee tries to correct health hazards created by the companies they work for.

The defense of these companies is "hey, go get another job if you don't like it here". Rather than address skyrocketing costs of health care, business just demands you change your behavior.

Weyco demanded last year changes regarding smoking habits - now they demand employees take certain medical tests or face firing.

The entire article is in the CSM. Here are some excerpts.

"The approach makes sense for employers, says Lisa Horn, manager of healthcare at the Society for Human Resource Management in Alexandria, Va., which advises personnel managers. "They're really trying to improve the health of their employees overall, and not just reduce costs for the employer, but also for employees," Ms. Horn says. "It certainly seems like their intentions are in the right place."
-----
"The color of your eyes, the car you drive, and your weight may all sound like private matters. But in many states, employers can take those facts - and many more - into account when they decide whether to hire or fire you.

Some groups are protected on the federal level: Employers can't discriminate against workers based on age, gender, race, disability, national origin, or religion. But unless state law says differently, all other characteristics are fair game, including your political leanings and even what you wear outside of work.

These firings didn't violate the law thanks to "at-will employment," a legal concept in 49 states that allows bosses to fire workers for virtually any reason - or none at all. (Montana is the sole exception.)"

Now compare these ideas with what happens if a worker's health is damaged by the work they do. Laws limit culpability of companies that make hazardous material. Companies normally win suits brought by those who suffer from the problems left by pollution. If a school teacher complains of mold problems in a classroom, they are silenced. Whistleblower laws have to be written to protect an employee if they report problems within a workplace.

Seems the golden rule remains - he who has the gold makes the rules.

Ethics Exhaustion Part 2

It was long ago that humorist Will Rogers noted "We have the best Congress money can buy."

Two recent finds on the web indicated how widespread the current culture in D.C. has turned to representing private interests and not private citizens. For instance, the number of federal lobbyists in 2000 was 16,000 but by 2005 that number was 35,000. Ever since the courts decided, with no debate, to designate many of the rights of an individual, or corporate personhood, to a corporation, we have steadily increased the influence of business and erased the protections of individuals.

With 13 billion dollars being spent on lobbying between 1998 and 2005 and over 250 former congressional members or agency heads now employed as lobbyists, whose voice in America is loudest? The individual or the corporate person?

Cries of "your side is almost as bad as our side" in the current Abramoff scandal are at best a distraction. Even the National Review plainly states this issue is deeply damaging to the Republicans:

"It is true that any Washington influence peddler is going to spread cash and favors as widely as possible, and 210 members of Congress have received Abramoff-connected dollars. But this is, in its essence, a Republican scandal, and any attempt to portray it otherwise is a misdirection.

Abramoff is a Republican who worked closely with two of the country's most prominent conservative activists, Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed. Top aides to the most important Republican in Congress, Tom DeLay (R., Tex.) were party to his sleazy schemes. The only people referred to directly in Abramoff's recent plea agreement are a Republican congressmen and two former Republican congressional aides. The GOP members can make a case that the scandal reflects more the way Washington works than the unique perfidy of their party, but even this is self-defeating, since Republicans run Washington."

Ethics Exhaustion

Gov. Phil Bredesen and the State Legislature are working on it. So is the Congress and Justice Department. They are investigating themselves to see who and how and where corruption has tainted the process of governing. Here in Tennessee, and perhaps nationwide as well, citizens have hardcore belief and hardcore doubt in reforms that will effect change.

I know there is a sense of Ethics Exhaustion among the general population. A good example of what brings that about is the long-fought legislation to create an anti-torture bill in Congress which the president signed and yet he also signed a statement saying his office was not legally bound to uphold or enforce the law.

Here in this state, as in many others, influence peddling and lobbying play a cash game - and the recent revelation that Jack Abramoff will "talk" about his work has many officials and party supporters scrambling like bugs running from a blast of insecticide. I doubt much will take place to correct or punish those who broke the law since Abramoff and the Justice Dept. have worked on his "plea bargain" for a year and a half. Some will be sacrificed for the Greater Good, but many will skate away to safety.

Wailing about federal corruption often misses that the most damaging and corrupt administration was a previous Republican-led disaster: Ronald Reagan's legacy is the leader, with nearly 200 administration officials indicted or investigated. Selling arms to Iran, the multi-billion dollar collapse of S&Ls, the fastest growth of federal power and government in general - seems as if the door was kicked open to allow for anything with a response that "the ends always justifies the means."

Perhaps all this "corruption" really has become the status quo.

Another recent example here in Tennessee is the nearly two dozen findings that the Tennessee School Board Association's director Dan Tollett grabbed money like he was on a game show. But the TSBA is working on it. I'm sure it will be better .... soon ... one day .... maybe.

Governor Bredesen today made these comments to legislators:

"In the months since last spring, I have traveled a great deal across our state, and it is gratifying to me to see the amount of plain old common sense on this subject. Most Tennesseans believe in the integrity of their government, of their elected leaders.

They know that there are bad apples once and awhile – I’m dealing with similar issues myself. They also know that public officials aren’t vacuum-wrapped in plastic; we all live in the real world and there are always potential conflicts and cross-currents. But they trust us, when things go wrong, to move forward, to learn from the experience, and to do the best job we can of fixing the problem.
Tennesseans still trust their government.

I ask us now to join together – Governor and Legislature, Democrat and Republican – to prove once again that we are worthy stewards of that trust."

If you've bothered to read this far, how do you really think all these Ethics investigations will fare?

Truthiness, Muffin Tops and Whale Tails

Enormous leaps of faith often occur based on some study or set of statistics, and if you follow the lead of some of the talking heads on TV and radio and the internet too, then all you need are the hollow outlines of a concept to elicit meanings and conclusions which are then broadcast and published and someone who hears or reads it believes it to be true. One recent study concludes that an average 16-year old American girl is the most prominent influence on the English language.

The American Dialect Society discussed this and other issues over the last week, including the "newest" words to reach prominence in the English language. But is this influence truly new or are conclusions about how we talk accurate?

"Linguists believe that young women and men talk differently from each other: women ask questions out of politeness while men want data. Women allow each other to finish a sentence before starting their own, while men interrupt more. In addition, women seeking prestige pick up fashionable new words faster than men.

Experts believe this has been going on for centuries. A Finnish study of 15th-century English court correspondence, for example, shows that aristocratic wives moved from archaic "ye" to "you" significantly earlier than their husbands."

"Truthiness" was voted top new word (and coined, I think, by the Colbert Report on Comedy Central) and to me it plays like a word that is a concept that really doesn't need facts.

But for now, you can talk about whether or not podcasting will jump the couch as a bunch of whale-tailers and muffin tops, like, totally take over the world of words. (Play this game at home - just plug in your favorite era of slang, as in "The mod happening was groovy until the fuzz arrived." or how about "I jitterbugged until dawn with a tomato who was reet, sweet and not too petite." or "She got all Single-White Female on me" - thanks Buffy.)

And the fun thing about "studies" and "scientific surveys" is that you can create on almost anything you imagine. Another recent study was launched to study the ways in which clothing affects the appearance of a woman's butt. Love the picture that accompanied the story too.

And there's this one about how cell phones and mobile text-messaging causes more tension within a family.

Hope this life-hacks your blogging.

TN-based Company Selling Your Phone Records

You can buy the cell phone records of any cell phone, as long as you're willing to pay a small fee, from a company based in Tennessee, according to press reports.

No court orders needed if you use the Locatecell.com services and they report in hours, according to the company's website. The page can also link you to a service to search land lines too.

The FBI tried it and it worked for them. And according to the report:

"Representatives of Data Find Solutions Inc., the Tennessee-based operator of Locatecell.com, could not be reached for comment.

Frank Bochte, a spokesman for the FBI in Chicago, said he was aware of the Web site.

"Not only in Chicago, but nationwide, the FBI notified its field offices of this potential threat to the security of our agents, and especially our undercover agents," Bochte said. "We need to educate our personnel about the dangers posed by individuals using this site and others like it. We are stressing that they should be careful in their cellular use."

Law enforcement has been warning undercover operatives about the threat.

Thought you might like a heads up too.

Senate Candidate's Reforms Lost In The News

One candidate for the U.S. Senate from Tennessee promoted a plan to eliminate the problem of illegal lobbyist influence and bribery, such as the kind promoted by Jack Abramoff, but the press has ignored or forgotten her proposals and now hails New Gingrich as the Idea Man for Ethics Reforms.

The news media has plenty to say about how much money certain candidates are raising right now in the Tennessee Senate race, but why not focus on some of the ideas put forth last year by Rosalind Kurita?

Her (is that the problem, the candidate is female?) plan included these ideas:

-- End the revolving door. Once you serve in Congress, you shouldn’t be allowed to leave and become a lobbyist. No more 'cooling off' period, end the practice of Members of Congress using their public service for private gain.

-- Make Congressional districts fair. 98% of Members of Congress win re-election. We need and independent commission to guide the redistricting process so average citizens have a fair shot at winning a seat in the government.

-- Report "grassroots" lobbying. Currently, a loophole in the law allows so-called "grassroots" lobbying expenses to go unreported. Untold millions are spent influencing legislation and the public never knows about it. Reporting of grassroots lobbying expenses should be required.

-- Report lobbying more frequently. Current law only requires reports every six months. Lobbyists ought to report their expenses quarterly, and the reports should be more detailed. It should be easy for the public to find out what Member of Congress was lobbied, what legislation was discussed, and how much was spent.

-- End Lobbyist Funded Trips for Lawmakers. Millions of dollars are spent each year by lobbyists to give lawmakers free vacations. Under the guise of "issue-education," lawmakers take extravagant trips paid for by special interests.

-- Real penalties for breaking the law. Lobbyists regularly file late or inaccurate reports and little is done under the current system. Lobbying disclosure deadlines should be enforced and stiff penalties should be imposed for breaking the law.

"It’s time for real reform," Kurita said. "We deserve a federal government we can trust. Special interests won’t like these reforms, but I don’t work for them. My job is to fight for what’s best for the people of Tennessee. When it comes to ethics, my experiences as a nurse will serve me well. We need more Senators who have spent time taking care of patients, not just taking care of special interests."

As of 2006, her voice and her ideas seem to be ignored.

"It's in the hole! A Cinderella story .."

It's amazing how many millions of dollars are tossed aside, as if it were only pocket change. I wonder what it must be like to shrug away a debt of nearly $20 million - just to say, well that's they way it goes, sorry 'bout that. Finding out about it hardly ruffles a single feather - we all shrug too, because we feel there is nothing we can do about it except shrug too and say "so it goes."

In the early 1990s, the state saw fit to post $20 million in bonds for something vital, crucial to the state, the economy and all the wee little folks who call Tennessee home. Health care? Education? Housing? Law Enforcement? Nope. Think Golf courses. Who better to get state financing than the ultra-needy folks who travel the nation and the world whacking balls into holes with sticks?

"The locations were very poor to draw the type of clientele they would need to charge the fees they proposed," said William H. Barnett II, an accountant in East Tennessee who opposed the building of the Bear Trace 10 years ago, predicting that it would go in the red.

"We also felt, as we looked at it, that many of the locations were political. That's very powerful in this state. When you combine political motivation with an investment of that type and it's not successful - then the taxpayers pay."

Yes we do pay - the state's grand plan turned belly-up and as of Jan. 1, 2006 the state now owns 12 golf courses who failed to turn a profit and repay the taxpayers their investment.

It gets better - well, for some anyway - despite warnings of the failure of this project (shrug, shrug) it was endorsed and it failed and you are stuck with the cost. But at least one person got a nifty state job from the operation, according to the report cited above:

" ... the lawyer for Tennessee Golf, Nashville lawyer James L. Murphy, explained the dire straits in a Dec. 10, 2004, letter to Jim Fyke, who was head of the state parks system at the time.

"While The Bear Trace golf courses may or may not have been the best use of the $20 million in bond money that the state authorized in 1993, that decision cannot be reversed," Murphy wrote.

"The money has already been spent and ... it is impossible for anyone to generate the revenues required to meet the increased debt service obligations that will be required beginning in 2006."

The company lost plenty, too, including more than $17 million in investments it made in the courses, he said. Fyke, who is now the state's commissioner of Environment and Conservation, declined to comment through a spokeswoman."

Nice job. It's in the hole!

A Statewide Porperty Tax for Education?

Tackling the issues of how public education in the state should be funded, the state's Comptroller John Morgan has drafted a plan which he submitted to state officials late last month. Changes would create a statewide property tax and over 60 counties would pay more than half of their sales tax collections for the program (or increase sales taxes in their county), the remaining counties would pay only half - all part of a formula aimed at increasing dollars for education and increasing graduation rates -- sounds like a noble effort.

Local school boards would still decide how to spend the dollars and that begs several questions - if local policy has not been able to keep students enrolled until they graduate, will more tax dollars fix the problem? Each system currently creates their own funding priorities, don't they? Have their decisions been adequate for each system and how is their effectiveness reviewed? Will increased taxation bring higher grad rates?

Some quotes from the story mentioned above from the Memphis Commercial Appeal:

"Local property taxes in many places could be significantly reduced if the state were funding operations. Some people would pay less; most would pay more probably since total funding would move closer to what other states spend," said Morgan. "As a state, we would still be way below the (Southern regional) average tax burden under any plausible scenario."

And some statistics:

In Tennessee, only 59 out of 100 ninth-graders go on to graduate from high school. Only 36 will enter college. And only 15 will graduate from college.

In the best-performing states, 91 out of 100 ninth-graders go on to graduate high school, 62 enter college and 28 get a degree.

Morgan said that data, combined with a 2005 National Association of Manufacturers survey that 80 percent of manufacturers have difficulty finding skilled workers, tell the story.

Morgan says part of the reason for submitting this report was to create public discussion about education in the state.

I've had this question on my mind for some time - do Tennesseans place a value on education? Is education simply a training guide for employment? Given the state's wide ranging unemployment figures, from 4 to 14 percent or higher, what happens when we have a 91 percent rate of high school grads? A higher number of college grads? Is manufacturing the only way to judge economic health?

It appears to me the state is utterly stagnant in education policies that foster commitment to the process of education. The federal education policies also seem inadequate, given the number of years the Dept. of Education has had to tackle these issues.

Voters are given the job of reviewing the effectiveness of school boards (but not superintendents) and they seem completely disinterested in most cases, and new residents to the state often look for work in areas where school funding is highest in hopes that will insure a solid education for their kids.

Is the solution just more money?

These Are My Answers

Well I've been tagged in one of these round-robin lists memes, which is an odd way to spend your time and I'm sure I'll distort it in my attempt to answer this list of four things, but like Mr. Silence who tagged me, I'll play along.

Though I would like to know why these things are called "memes". Seems a sort of high-tech-wistfulness to call a list a meme. I do remembering encountering the word for the first time in Neal Stepehenson's epic sci-fi comedy novel of the future "Snow Crash" a few years ago and his usage of it makes sense in a kind of "community-based virus of information sharing" way.

OK, fine here we go.

Four jobs you've had in your life: I've been a dishwasher, I've stacked books in a library, I once shoveled sand into a machine that mixed it with concrete and then came out a high pressure hose to form the shape of a waterslide which was in Jonesboro, and that was in summer for like 10 hours a day and I passed out the first day, so that would be Shoveler, I guess. And I've been paid cash money for writing plays and stories, which is a different kind of Shoveling. What I would really like to find is the Job that Wants To Stay WIth Me.

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over: Oh I suck at this. I've never been able to give anyone a list of my Ten All Time Favorites, so Four is insane. Let me try this approach - I can name Four movies I've seen more than one hundred times (I could probably name a few dozen), and that list would include "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", "Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb", James Whale's "Frankenstein", and, oh, why not admit it - "Star Wars", which I saw in theatres over one hundred times at least. Nerd Alert!!

Four Places You've Lived: Ha! While I have lived in many towns, like Morristown or Monterey or Nashville - I have only lived in Tennessee, so that's my final answer. Check with me in a few years on this question and see if anything new has happened.

Four TV Shows You Love To Watch: I once played a game with a friend who owned a satellite system and we used to try and see how many consecutive hours of reruns of "The Simpsons" we could watch, so there's one. I have been rather glued to the new show "Lost", but man, I have grown to hate commercials and so I seldom have the TV off a movie channel these days. Ok,. two more. Well, I did watch a heap of "Monty Python" on BBC America over the weekend and never tire of those shows and the only DVD sets of a TV show I own are "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," and I've shown my nerdy affection for that show on these pages here before. So there's four.

Four Places You've Been On Vacation: I love traveling, despite my single-state residency status. Some of the best trips I've had were to New York, Miami, Jasper, Tennessee (i loved all those trips to see my dad's family and listen to them all tell stories and laugh), and Washington, D.C.

Four Websites I Visit Daily: I am always entertained and educated going to MetaFilter, and rarely a day passes where I don't go to the IMDb, the Internet Movie Database, I always enjoy Crooks and Liars, and ... oh boy ... so many ... I do stop and read thru all kinds of writers and writing via the Rocky Top Brigade more than once a day.

Four of Your Favorite Foods: Any kind of pizza, and I can chow on roast Turkey whether it's a holiday or not, I love a fresh salad, and ... is coffee a food? No? A Beverage? Yeesh! These lists. I'll mention a recent addiction - gimme that Eel Roll Sushi, baby!! (Since I'm Southern, I suppose potatoes and cornbread are obviously included).

Four Places You'd Rather Be: Sounds ominous. The first is at a job!! Where I get paid!!!! I don't much care for winter, so where it's not winter. By the ocean. Or, conversely, deep in some mountains. (Of course, I'd also like to have my own spaceship or villa or something ritzy). Is that more than four?

Four Albums You Can't Live Without: I suppose you mean CDs, right? This is worse than the movies list. Well, just about anything by the Beatles, and I can't list some without omitting others and this isn't fair. I do like several compilations I have. Oh this is impossible - I want rock and jazz and blues and some bluegrass too and some rap too, even. Is this over yet???

Sorry.

Oh I'm supposed to tag four others to do this - how about ... 10,000 Monkeys and A Camera, and also have to tag Juliepatchouli, and one of the brains at Six-Meat Buffet, who claimed once only they were supposed to do "sarcasm" on their pages and perhaps this may annoy them. and um ... oh ... I've been enjoying the pain and suffering at Atomic Tumor, so them too. And if you are not on this ridiculously short list or have no blog, then add your "memes" in the comment section.