The funding mechanisms of local and state government are headed for a collision course which will impact all residents and businesses - perhaps property owners the most - according to a new study from the TACIR (TN Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations).
The full study is here and a news report on the study here.
The TACIR often influences how new policies are made in the state, and the ideas they present in their study point the way to how the current system may change.
One of the most notable elements of the study is that Residential property taxes have been increasing while tax revenues from business have been decreasing.
"TACIR noted that from 1973 to 2000, the residential share of total property tax assessments rose from 35 percent to almost 50 percent, while the commercial and industrial share hovered close to 40 percent. By 2005, residential property represented 53.3 percent of total assessments, while commercial and industrial assessments had dropped to 35.9 percent."
I always see these types of "advisory reports" as the smoke of a growing fire. The state has been reluctant to increase the share of revenues from sales taxes to cities and counties -- that seems to be the most obvious way to aid communities and keep property taxes from a dangerous increase. Fear of a rejection or an exodus of business means the individual will be targeted instead.
Another suggestion from this report is far more ominous and may point the way that some in state and local government want to steer -- more taxing authority for cities and counties. The report says:
"Significant new taxing authority that allows local governments to take advantage of existing tax bases or activities that are currently untaxed. Possible changes include an increase in the local sales tax single article limitation (currently set at $1,600), the authority to levy payroll taxes, and local ad valorem vehicle taxes in lieu of existing wheel taxes."
A local payroll tax?? That would be a very bad move. Yet, higher taxes are certainly being considered and it appears thought is being given to find a way to quickly and quietly to change the way residents in the state are taxed.
After all, the report also says one of the "problems" in creating revenue is the "truth in taxation" laws are so public that it is "politically difficult" to raise taxes on property. Sounds too much like some "less public" decision-making is the goal here.
Once the TACIR begins to influence legislation, it is usually with a specific goal in mind. Government is always looking for ways to increase taxation and public review is the best way to insure spending isn't bloated and that any new legislation is necessary and fair.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
What They Said
Some Wedesday web-walking has much to offer on all kinds of topics - discuss them as you wish.
I will make this claim first, however -- seems there were so many electronic problems, long lines and mistakes made in the August 2006 elections across the state. Here in Hamblen County, a two vote margin for the seat of incumbent County Commissioner Bobby Reinhardt has prompted him to file a suit because election officials say the vote tally shows a total tie, except in the absentee ballots - and that a court order is required to conduct a recount of those votes. Hopefully, the suit also calls for checking the registration status of all absentee voters.
Lawsuits have followed in county after county - was it really just electronic malfunctions or a long ballot? Isn't this a clear sign to the state election office to investigate the problems and provide some assistance?
Salem's Lots has a fine post on the myths of immigrants legal and illegal and how the state and federal officials respond to the issue. Here is a sample:
"I'm tired of being anecdoted and told we have a problem, without seeing any real evidence. I'm not saying there is no problem, but I want to know what it really is.
Jingoism and xenophobia may boost ratings for talk show hosts, and probably engenders comments I read recently that Nolensville Road is becoming a junior Tijuana (obviously the commenter has never been to the real Tijuana), but hot air does little but produce steam.
Yeah, we could bump up the penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants, but the truth is, we don't have the means of enforcement, and it would probably do little than cause employers do a more efficient job of keeping illegals off the books.
I'm not saying that our nation's borders should be opened and unguarded. I just don't see how we can legislate here in Tennessee, based on anecdotes, ignorance and fear.
Can you honestly say that illegal immigrants have had a detrimental effect on YOUR life?
It is also odd to me that very little news media attention has been paid to the massive federal probe and charges against Garcia Labor Company. The charges indicate the company was aggressively seeking ways to employ illegals, but the state's media have given the story a very low profile.
Did you know the US has been at war longer with Iraq than with Germany in WW2? I've said it before, but the fact is we have had an active military operational status in Iraq since 1991 - 15 years and counting.
Go check out the saga of Tennesse Jed and his Bronco. He got it back!
Giving into Fear is what terrorists want, isn't it? Then take a look at what Tam says:
"If they "hate our freedom" so much, Georgie, then why are we doing everything we can to help them kill it?"
That's a quick peek around the state - if you have a burning issue in yer noggin, add it in the comments and we'llt ake that on too!
I will make this claim first, however -- seems there were so many electronic problems, long lines and mistakes made in the August 2006 elections across the state. Here in Hamblen County, a two vote margin for the seat of incumbent County Commissioner Bobby Reinhardt has prompted him to file a suit because election officials say the vote tally shows a total tie, except in the absentee ballots - and that a court order is required to conduct a recount of those votes. Hopefully, the suit also calls for checking the registration status of all absentee voters.
Lawsuits have followed in county after county - was it really just electronic malfunctions or a long ballot? Isn't this a clear sign to the state election office to investigate the problems and provide some assistance?
Salem's Lots has a fine post on the myths of immigrants legal and illegal and how the state and federal officials respond to the issue. Here is a sample:
"I'm tired of being anecdoted and told we have a problem, without seeing any real evidence. I'm not saying there is no problem, but I want to know what it really is.
Jingoism and xenophobia may boost ratings for talk show hosts, and probably engenders comments I read recently that Nolensville Road is becoming a junior Tijuana (obviously the commenter has never been to the real Tijuana), but hot air does little but produce steam.
Yeah, we could bump up the penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants, but the truth is, we don't have the means of enforcement, and it would probably do little than cause employers do a more efficient job of keeping illegals off the books.
I'm not saying that our nation's borders should be opened and unguarded. I just don't see how we can legislate here in Tennessee, based on anecdotes, ignorance and fear.
Can you honestly say that illegal immigrants have had a detrimental effect on YOUR life?
It is also odd to me that very little news media attention has been paid to the massive federal probe and charges against Garcia Labor Company. The charges indicate the company was aggressively seeking ways to employ illegals, but the state's media have given the story a very low profile.
Did you know the US has been at war longer with Iraq than with Germany in WW2? I've said it before, but the fact is we have had an active military operational status in Iraq since 1991 - 15 years and counting.
Go check out the saga of Tennesse Jed and his Bronco. He got it back!
Giving into Fear is what terrorists want, isn't it? Then take a look at what Tam says:
"If they "hate our freedom" so much, Georgie, then why are we doing everything we can to help them kill it?"
That's a quick peek around the state - if you have a burning issue in yer noggin, add it in the comments and we'llt ake that on too!
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
You're Fat and You Need Government Help
There are more obese people in the world now than there are undernourished people, according to comments presented at the annual conference of International Association of Agricultural Economists. Simply put, worldwide humanity is quickly becoming fat and fatter and market manipulation is viewed as a solution.
Barry Popkin says government intervention or a manipulation of pricing on "unhealthy foods" may be the way to reduce the fat:
"But all countries have failed to address the obesity "boom," Popkin said. Food prices may be used to manipulate people's diets and tilt them towards healthier options, he suggested.
A recent interview with writer/author Michael Pollan says we have to become "food detectives" to discover what we are really eating in America -- mostly corn and sugar. Then of course, there are the cows fed chicken poop, which we then eat, and that supermarkets are the worst places to get good food. Yeah, and which government agency decided to allow for crap and meat to be fed to chickens and cows??
Read the interview with Pollan here.
And put that bag of "go-food" down and take a dang walk, people.
Or wait until Nanny Government, pushed by industrial needs and fearful consumers, dictates what your daily intake of calories will be.
Barry Popkin says government intervention or a manipulation of pricing on "unhealthy foods" may be the way to reduce the fat:
"But all countries have failed to address the obesity "boom," Popkin said. Food prices may be used to manipulate people's diets and tilt them towards healthier options, he suggested.
For instance, if we charge money for every calorie of soft drink and fruit drink that was consumed, people would consume less of it. If we subsidize fruit and vegetable production, people would consume more of it and we would have a healthier diet," Popkin said."
A recent interview with writer/author Michael Pollan says we have to become "food detectives" to discover what we are really eating in America -- mostly corn and sugar. Then of course, there are the cows fed chicken poop, which we then eat, and that supermarkets are the worst places to get good food. Yeah, and which government agency decided to allow for crap and meat to be fed to chickens and cows??
Read the interview with Pollan here.
And put that bag of "go-food" down and take a dang walk, people.
Or wait until Nanny Government, pushed by industrial needs and fearful consumers, dictates what your daily intake of calories will be.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Mandatory Lie Detector Tests?
A fascinating story was cited today by Justin on KnoxViews about a "test" that's been taking place at the airport in Knoxville this summer. The project requires those who fly to take a mini lie-detector test in order to identify terrorists or other lawbreakers who take to the air.
The news story from the WSJ says:
"The test alone signals a push for new ways to combat terrorists using technology. Authorities are convinced that beyond hunting for weapons and dangerous liquids brought on board airliners, the battle for security lies in identifying dangerous passengers.
Here is the Cogito concept: A passenger enters the booth, swipes his passport and responds in his choice of language to 15 to 20 questions generated by factors such as the location, and personal attributes like nationality, gender and age. The process takes as much as five minutes, after which the passenger is either cleared or interviewed further by a security officer."
So the ONLY way this dectection can work is if air passensgers are all subjected to this test?
Stupid, just stupid.
The news story from the WSJ says:
"The test alone signals a push for new ways to combat terrorists using technology. Authorities are convinced that beyond hunting for weapons and dangerous liquids brought on board airliners, the battle for security lies in identifying dangerous passengers.
Here is the Cogito concept: A passenger enters the booth, swipes his passport and responds in his choice of language to 15 to 20 questions generated by factors such as the location, and personal attributes like nationality, gender and age. The process takes as much as five minutes, after which the passenger is either cleared or interviewed further by a security officer."
So the ONLY way this dectection can work is if air passensgers are all subjected to this test?
Stupid, just stupid.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Fluffy Chucklefanny
"Thus, for example, George W. Bush's new name is: Fluffy Chucklefanny.
(Thanks goes to Tits McGee for revealing the above web page and the fun to be had there. Your new name awaits you there too. And if you want to know why I am not mentioning my "new name", you'll have to just go to the web page above and do as instructed with the letters of my name. Oh and you can leave it in the comments if you think I'm being chicken for not adding mine next to Fluffy Chucklefanny's. Seems that whenever I do these re-naming games, something horrible appears. .... ok, fine, fine -- my new name is Crusty Pottysquirt. Happy?? Jeepers, name makes me think I need to carry some towels or somethin'.)
(Thanks goes to Tits McGee for revealing the above web page and the fun to be had there. Your new name awaits you there too. And if you want to know why I am not mentioning my "new name", you'll have to just go to the web page above and do as instructed with the letters of my name. Oh and you can leave it in the comments if you think I'm being chicken for not adding mine next to Fluffy Chucklefanny's. Seems that whenever I do these re-naming games, something horrible appears. .... ok, fine, fine -- my new name is Crusty Pottysquirt. Happy?? Jeepers, name makes me think I need to carry some towels or somethin'.)
Not Really Lost Apollo 11 Footage
I think I know how the NASA folks feel. It isn't that something important is missing or destroyed, it's just that no one knows where it is.
That's not really lost, then is it?
Half-information and innuendo have led some to decide that there are some soooper-secret "lost Apollo mission tapes" containing soooooper-secret government information. Not sure what information could be - alien contact, footage of Neil Armstrong on a faked Moon-landing site maybe?
Here's the deal:
High quality television signals from the first Moon landing (and other missions) were recorded on telemetry tapes at three locations. A search is on to find these tapes, since the original slow-scan tapes won't last forever. But finding the tapes has become something of a mystery.
So the tapes are not lost. Not yet. If they aren't somewhere, then they may be destroyed. But that isn't lost is it?
But perhaps it would be a good idea to locate them, before the only reference for the Moon landing becomes a footnote for Famous MTV logos.
That's not really lost, then is it?
Half-information and innuendo have led some to decide that there are some soooper-secret "lost Apollo mission tapes" containing soooooper-secret government information. Not sure what information could be - alien contact, footage of Neil Armstrong on a faked Moon-landing site maybe?
Here's the deal:
High quality television signals from the first Moon landing (and other missions) were recorded on telemetry tapes at three locations. A search is on to find these tapes, since the original slow-scan tapes won't last forever. But finding the tapes has become something of a mystery.
So the tapes are not lost. Not yet. If they aren't somewhere, then they may be destroyed. But that isn't lost is it?
But perhaps it would be a good idea to locate them, before the only reference for the Moon landing becomes a footnote for Famous MTV logos.
Survey Says Democrats Have The Advantage
A survey out this weekend from Newsweek reveals a growing trend among Americans - that Democrats would provide improved leadership in both policymaking and the national economy.
From the survey:
"Fifty-three percent of respondents said they wanted to see the Democrats win enough seats to take over Congress, while 34 percent said they wanted the Republicans to retain control, the poll found.
Fifty-three percent of Americans surveyed also said they trusted the Democrats to better manage the economy, while 34 percent sided with Republicans, according to the poll.
The GOP-led Congress has been staggered by charges of corruption, an economy built on deficits, and a lack of supervision over the other branches of government. While the approval of the current Bush administration has improved, the coming fall elections are aabout the Congress.
The recent win of Ned Lamont in Connecticut is not a referendum on the war in Iraq - it was a clear voice on the disapproval of Congress and the view that they are failing to do their jobs.
The idea that it's the GOP way or terrorism wins is a false framing of the issues Americans are debating in earnest. A wider range of policies and actions in the military and the diplomatic realms need consideration, and that the It's Good Us or Evil Them argument doesn't serve America's best interests. Both political wings need to remember that.
From the survey:
"Fifty-three percent of respondents said they wanted to see the Democrats win enough seats to take over Congress, while 34 percent said they wanted the Republicans to retain control, the poll found.
Fifty-three percent of Americans surveyed also said they trusted the Democrats to better manage the economy, while 34 percent sided with Republicans, according to the poll.
The GOP-led Congress has been staggered by charges of corruption, an economy built on deficits, and a lack of supervision over the other branches of government. While the approval of the current Bush administration has improved, the coming fall elections are aabout the Congress.
The recent win of Ned Lamont in Connecticut is not a referendum on the war in Iraq - it was a clear voice on the disapproval of Congress and the view that they are failing to do their jobs.
The idea that it's the GOP way or terrorism wins is a false framing of the issues Americans are debating in earnest. A wider range of policies and actions in the military and the diplomatic realms need consideration, and that the It's Good Us or Evil Them argument doesn't serve America's best interests. Both political wings need to remember that.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Camera Obscura - Clones, Private Eyes and Snake Plissken
Remaking every movie ever made is no new invention in Hollyweird, silent films often got remade and I kinda lost count of how many times C.B. DeMille remade all his biblical epics. A true challenge for a constant film critic is to be able to see a new (or an older) movie with eyes of the uninitiated. I like challenges.
So today brings some recent Hollywood hits and their origins. And the burning question of the day is "Will Snake Plissken return?" I sure hope so.
First on the remake list is the ever-exploding-world of director Michael Bay's sci-fi thriller "The Island." Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson star in this futuristic tale of a society forced underground after a massive worldwide biological apocalypse. Every moment of their lives is under constant watch, and even the bathrooms instantly assess your bio-behavior and dictates dietary requirements. It is quickly clear something is rotten in this mall-world.
I don't want to give too much away - but the main characters are clones. Why they exist is a question that puts them on the run and gives Bay a chance to blow up a lot of stuff, and he taps into many other movies - "Logan's Run", "Blade Runner", etc etc. But it took me about an hour after the movie ended to remember where I had seen it before.
The story is a huge budget remake of an ultra low budget 70s movie called "Parts: The Clonus Horror." Certainly the acting in "The Island" is what helps carry the movie, far better than the "Clonus Horror." And if I had never seen any of the above mentioned movies, then "The Island" stands as a very exciting sci-fi thriller. So I did enjoy the movie.
But the double-feature night at the drive-in where I saw "Parts" (the second feature was the marvelously titled "Meat Cleaver Massacre", and distributors have dropped the word Parts from The Clonus Horror) was and is the best way to watch this kind of half-baked goofy thriller. There were five of us in someone's station wagon that night at the drive-in, and I remember we were all intensely pleased when it began to rain so hard we couldn't see the screen anymore and we turned our attention to the case of beer we had.
Another genre retread which I also liked when I watched it this week was the largely ignored mystery-comedy "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." The movie stars Robert Downey Jr as a petty crook taking a turn thru Hollywood as a hopeful actor and Val Kilmer as a gay private detective. The movie is very funny and the script and direction by Shane Black is steeped in every Hollywood private eye movie ever made. Black ("Lethal Weapon," "Long Kiss Goodnight") gives Downey the most entertaining job of narrating all you see and hear - very funny and very P.I., with a touch of William Holden from "Sunset Boulevard."
Movies from Black owe everything to Raymond Chandler, and he even includes a fake hard-boiled detective in this movie, named Johnny Gossamer. Also this movie is divided into chapters with names from Chandler's books and stories. (And speaking of Johnny, Johnny Knoxville was up for Downey's part, but Downey won the day.) The DVD also includes very funny commentary by Black, Downey and Kilmer and is as good as the movie itself.
Chandler's funny and wry detective Phillip Marlowe has been at the center of so many movies and other private eye mysteries, it can easily be said Marlowe is an all-American classic hero. This week I also watched one of the best early movies of Marlowe, "Murder, My Sweet" with former musical star Dick Powell in excellent form as Marlowe.
His narration, like Downey's, is often hilarious and cynical and fun to hear. As when Marlowe says:
"Okay Marlowe,' I said to myself. 'You're a tough guy. You've been sapped twice, choked, beaten silly with a gun, shot in the arm until you're crazy as a couple of waltzing mice. Now let's see you do something really tough - like putting your pants on."
Finally today - rumor mills are churning out a tale I hope comes to life.
Reports claim that director John Carpenter will get to make a third "Escape" movie starring Kurt Russell as the one and only Snake Plissken. Snake is in many ways a futuristic offspring of Marlowe - a dangerous and cynical anti-hero who is always quotable.
Snake is the hero of "Escape from New York," "Escape from L.A." and if the project gets the green light, the new movie will be called "Escape From Earth."
Next week - a new horror movie on DVD, "The Tooth Fairy." Really. I watch 'em so you don't get "sapped".
So today brings some recent Hollywood hits and their origins. And the burning question of the day is "Will Snake Plissken return?" I sure hope so.
First on the remake list is the ever-exploding-world of director Michael Bay's sci-fi thriller "The Island." Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson star in this futuristic tale of a society forced underground after a massive worldwide biological apocalypse. Every moment of their lives is under constant watch, and even the bathrooms instantly assess your bio-behavior and dictates dietary requirements. It is quickly clear something is rotten in this mall-world.
I don't want to give too much away - but the main characters are clones. Why they exist is a question that puts them on the run and gives Bay a chance to blow up a lot of stuff, and he taps into many other movies - "Logan's Run", "Blade Runner", etc etc. But it took me about an hour after the movie ended to remember where I had seen it before.
The story is a huge budget remake of an ultra low budget 70s movie called "Parts: The Clonus Horror." Certainly the acting in "The Island" is what helps carry the movie, far better than the "Clonus Horror." And if I had never seen any of the above mentioned movies, then "The Island" stands as a very exciting sci-fi thriller. So I did enjoy the movie.
But the double-feature night at the drive-in where I saw "Parts" (the second feature was the marvelously titled "Meat Cleaver Massacre", and distributors have dropped the word Parts from The Clonus Horror) was and is the best way to watch this kind of half-baked goofy thriller. There were five of us in someone's station wagon that night at the drive-in, and I remember we were all intensely pleased when it began to rain so hard we couldn't see the screen anymore and we turned our attention to the case of beer we had.
Another genre retread which I also liked when I watched it this week was the largely ignored mystery-comedy "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." The movie stars Robert Downey Jr as a petty crook taking a turn thru Hollywood as a hopeful actor and Val Kilmer as a gay private detective. The movie is very funny and the script and direction by Shane Black is steeped in every Hollywood private eye movie ever made. Black ("Lethal Weapon," "Long Kiss Goodnight") gives Downey the most entertaining job of narrating all you see and hear - very funny and very P.I., with a touch of William Holden from "Sunset Boulevard."
Movies from Black owe everything to Raymond Chandler, and he even includes a fake hard-boiled detective in this movie, named Johnny Gossamer. Also this movie is divided into chapters with names from Chandler's books and stories. (And speaking of Johnny, Johnny Knoxville was up for Downey's part, but Downey won the day.) The DVD also includes very funny commentary by Black, Downey and Kilmer and is as good as the movie itself.
Chandler's funny and wry detective Phillip Marlowe has been at the center of so many movies and other private eye mysteries, it can easily be said Marlowe is an all-American classic hero. This week I also watched one of the best early movies of Marlowe, "Murder, My Sweet" with former musical star Dick Powell in excellent form as Marlowe.
His narration, like Downey's, is often hilarious and cynical and fun to hear. As when Marlowe says:
"Okay Marlowe,' I said to myself. 'You're a tough guy. You've been sapped twice, choked, beaten silly with a gun, shot in the arm until you're crazy as a couple of waltzing mice. Now let's see you do something really tough - like putting your pants on."
Finally today - rumor mills are churning out a tale I hope comes to life.
Reports claim that director John Carpenter will get to make a third "Escape" movie starring Kurt Russell as the one and only Snake Plissken. Snake is in many ways a futuristic offspring of Marlowe - a dangerous and cynical anti-hero who is always quotable.
Snake is the hero of "Escape from New York," "Escape from L.A." and if the project gets the green light, the new movie will be called "Escape From Earth."
Next week - a new horror movie on DVD, "The Tooth Fairy." Really. I watch 'em so you don't get "sapped".
Worm Regulators Pursue Connecticut Boy
A 13-year-old boy in Connecticut and his family have been ordered to take down a sign in the yard annnouncing "nite crawlers for sale" to hopeful fisherman thanks to an order from Zoning and Planning officials in the town of Cromwell.
Maybe Ned Lamont can help the kid out.
And maybe the city is right to start regulating such childhood businesses as lemonade stands and worm sales. Young Joey Cadieux was hauling in as much as seven to ten dollars a month, after all. What out-of-control suburban business sprawl might be next? Trading comic books or Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, the dollars could turn to billions in untaxed revenues ... NOT.
Of course, once the press picked up the story, those who ordered the sign be removed and the council who ok'd it are the ones now trying to wriggle off the hook for this idiotic regulatory control.
"In a residential zone, if you want to put up a business and work out of your home you really need a special permit," Zoning and Planning Commissioner Al Diaz told The Hartford Courant in a story published Friday. "You come before the commission and state your case ... and then a decision is made. Chiropractors do that, lawyers do that, doctors do that, and then you're allowed to put up a sign."
However, in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, Diaz said that other town officials overreacted to his inquiry and that he will ask the board to rescind the order when it meets again in September."
I had no idea doctors and lawyers and chiropractors were hiding their night crawler earnings.
Maybe Ned Lamont can help the kid out.
And maybe the city is right to start regulating such childhood businesses as lemonade stands and worm sales. Young Joey Cadieux was hauling in as much as seven to ten dollars a month, after all. What out-of-control suburban business sprawl might be next? Trading comic books or Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, the dollars could turn to billions in untaxed revenues ... NOT.
Of course, once the press picked up the story, those who ordered the sign be removed and the council who ok'd it are the ones now trying to wriggle off the hook for this idiotic regulatory control.
"In a residential zone, if you want to put up a business and work out of your home you really need a special permit," Zoning and Planning Commissioner Al Diaz told The Hartford Courant in a story published Friday. "You come before the commission and state your case ... and then a decision is made. Chiropractors do that, lawyers do that, doctors do that, and then you're allowed to put up a sign."
However, in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, Diaz said that other town officials overreacted to his inquiry and that he will ask the board to rescind the order when it meets again in September."
I had no idea doctors and lawyers and chiropractors were hiding their night crawler earnings.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Delays For Movie Reviews, Explosions Follow
Hey!! Where's the Friday movie and DVD reviews??
Such messages filled my email today.
Fear not, faithful readers, it will be here on Saturday rather than today. Non-computer filled days this week made for little time, but Camera Obscura will be here tomorrow.
New movies, new DVDs and all the news the regular media is afraid to report, as always, will be here.
Between now and then, why not a short video of some really stupid people creating explosions with dry ice?
Such messages filled my email today.
Fear not, faithful readers, it will be here on Saturday rather than today. Non-computer filled days this week made for little time, but Camera Obscura will be here tomorrow.
New movies, new DVDs and all the news the regular media is afraid to report, as always, will be here.
Between now and then, why not a short video of some really stupid people creating explosions with dry ice?
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Musical Interlude 2
Hot summer days and hotter nights.
Time to take a journey to Cantaloupe Island by composer and pianist Herbie Hancock, with the legendary Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Ron Carter on bass, and mega soul from Joe Henderson on sax and Tony Williams making the beat.
Time to take a journey to Cantaloupe Island by composer and pianist Herbie Hancock, with the legendary Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Ron Carter on bass, and mega soul from Joe Henderson on sax and Tony Williams making the beat.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
'Smart Pig' Down, Profits Up for BP
The breakdown of British Petroleum's pipeline is more than a potential 8 percent loss in domestic oil distribution, it's likely part of a long string of criminal actions.
If they had only used the 'smart pig' the pipeline would likely be in operation.
A rupture in their lines that led to a 200,000 gallon leak this spring, an explosion at a BP refinery, and accounts of actively fabricating repair records and covering up problems are all part of a criminal investigation now underway.
"Tuesday, in an interview with NBC News, a federal official in charge of pipeline safety charged that BP has been doing inadequate maintenance for 15 years.
"Frankly, we would have expected a higher level of care from a company like BP on lines like this," says Thomas J. Barrett with the Department of Transportation's Office of Pipeline Safety. "What disappointed me was their failure to maintain these lines to an accepted industry level of care," Barrett says.
Tuesday night, BP would not comment on the criminal investigation, but insists that its maintenance program was adequate."
Pigging refers to using a machine which travels inside pipelines to detect leaks, weak seals and weak repair welds. BP stopped using these machines about 10 years ago.
But the 'smart pig' wasn't on the job. BP was able to reduce or eliminate maintenance costs, and haul their profits to record levels.
And those who reported the problems years ago to BP? Greg Palast writes:
"In one case, BP'’s CEO of Alaskan operations hired a former CIA expert to break into the home of a whistleblower, Chuck Hamel, who had complained of conditions at the pipe'’s tanker facility. BP tapped his phone calls with a US congressman and ran a surveillance and smear campaign against him. When caught, a US federal judge said BP'’s acts were '“reminiscent of Nazi Germany.'”
This was not an isolated case. Captain James Woodle, once in charge of the pipe'’s Valdez terminus, was blackmailed into resigning the post when he complained of disastrous conditions there. The weapon used on Woodle was a file of faked evidence of marital infidelity. Nice guys, eh?"
Palast has the goods on BP. The new 'smart pig' is at the money trough, hogging like mad.
Let the spin to protect BP begin and let the price gouging at the pump begin!
If they had only used the 'smart pig' the pipeline would likely be in operation.
A rupture in their lines that led to a 200,000 gallon leak this spring, an explosion at a BP refinery, and accounts of actively fabricating repair records and covering up problems are all part of a criminal investigation now underway.
"Tuesday, in an interview with NBC News, a federal official in charge of pipeline safety charged that BP has been doing inadequate maintenance for 15 years.
"Frankly, we would have expected a higher level of care from a company like BP on lines like this," says Thomas J. Barrett with the Department of Transportation's Office of Pipeline Safety. "What disappointed me was their failure to maintain these lines to an accepted industry level of care," Barrett says.
Tuesday night, BP would not comment on the criminal investigation, but insists that its maintenance program was adequate."
Pigging refers to using a machine which travels inside pipelines to detect leaks, weak seals and weak repair welds. BP stopped using these machines about 10 years ago.
But the 'smart pig' wasn't on the job. BP was able to reduce or eliminate maintenance costs, and haul their profits to record levels.
And those who reported the problems years ago to BP? Greg Palast writes:
"In one case, BP'’s CEO of Alaskan operations hired a former CIA expert to break into the home of a whistleblower, Chuck Hamel, who had complained of conditions at the pipe'’s tanker facility. BP tapped his phone calls with a US congressman and ran a surveillance and smear campaign against him. When caught, a US federal judge said BP'’s acts were '“reminiscent of Nazi Germany.'”
This was not an isolated case. Captain James Woodle, once in charge of the pipe'’s Valdez terminus, was blackmailed into resigning the post when he complained of disastrous conditions there. The weapon used on Woodle was a file of faked evidence of marital infidelity. Nice guys, eh?"
Palast has the goods on BP. The new 'smart pig' is at the money trough, hogging like mad.
Let the spin to protect BP begin and let the price gouging at the pump begin!
View From The County Fair
I had the honor of judging the Youth Talent Contest at the annual Jefferson County Fair on Monday night. Normally I have been the emcee of the show, and this year I wanted to change the roles - a change which was ultimately a mistake. Sort of.
I made several critical errors on Monday evening, which began when I left behind the digital camera at home, thus depriving readers here of the visuals of the fairgrounds and the extremely talented performers. So no tempting pictures of roasted corn-on-the-cob, towering stacks of funnel cakes, airbrushed t-shirts of thonged vixens astride motorcycles or reclining on the hoods of muscle cars, and no images of the varieties of foods-on-sticks. My bad. (And just a side note - food on a stick is a marvel of technology and a boon to stickmakers worldwide.)
And while I thought the heat on Monday evening was brutal, the heat in the competition was just as intense. I've emceed the show for many years, and what happens when I get to sit in a judge's seat? The performances were varied, unique and strong and judging among them nearly impossible.
My fellow judges and myself decided who would be Randy, who Paula, who Simon, although I kinda wanted to be a David Hasselhoff a la "America's Got Talent." Fortunately, we simply scored the contestants and did not have to speak up. Yet, by contest's end, each judge spoke about how good all the performers were -- not to just encourage those who did not win, but to emphasize how narrow a margin existed between victory and loss.
For example, one 14 year old boy played an instrumental classical guitar solo, another girl sang Jim Croce's "New York's Not My Home," and then there was the clogging duo. Now stop laughing. I know I just said clogging and I'm sure your image of such is about the same as mine. However these performers appeared wearing vivid sparkly red tops and pleather pants and the music was a pure rave remix of hip-hop and rock. The "clogging" including plain old fashioned tap-dancing and Britney Spears/Janet Jackson dance choreography. (And perhaps is was the heat, but for a minute or two I did flash onto that memory of the dance team from the movie "Donnie Darko", which creeped me out a little bit.)
In years past, there would often be several singers all singing the same momentary country music chart-topper or squads of clogging teams using the exact same bluegrass jam.
Not this year. Nope, not the year I get to be a judge. Powerful singers and musicians, making selections from Billy Joel to Martina McBride to Nelly. Boy, was I glad I didn't wear my overalls and I wore my shoes (that's a county fair joke - just relax).
Back in 1988 was the last time I judged something at the Jeff Co Fair. It was a 'Comedy Contest' and it was not pretty. It took place on a hilly spot on the fairgrounds. And the best joke I heard was about some farmer's confusion between a pig and his wife. Not pretty.
For some years now, the Youth Talent Show has had it's own covered pavilion and lights and bleachers for the crowd.
I'd show you a picture, but ... I can give you a link to the official web site for the fair, which goes thru Friday and you can enjoy this shot of a super-amped lawn tractor below.
And here is a video for the tractor pull competition.
But the real battle was among some truly talented teens.
I made several critical errors on Monday evening, which began when I left behind the digital camera at home, thus depriving readers here of the visuals of the fairgrounds and the extremely talented performers. So no tempting pictures of roasted corn-on-the-cob, towering stacks of funnel cakes, airbrushed t-shirts of thonged vixens astride motorcycles or reclining on the hoods of muscle cars, and no images of the varieties of foods-on-sticks. My bad. (And just a side note - food on a stick is a marvel of technology and a boon to stickmakers worldwide.)
And while I thought the heat on Monday evening was brutal, the heat in the competition was just as intense. I've emceed the show for many years, and what happens when I get to sit in a judge's seat? The performances were varied, unique and strong and judging among them nearly impossible.
My fellow judges and myself decided who would be Randy, who Paula, who Simon, although I kinda wanted to be a David Hasselhoff a la "America's Got Talent." Fortunately, we simply scored the contestants and did not have to speak up. Yet, by contest's end, each judge spoke about how good all the performers were -- not to just encourage those who did not win, but to emphasize how narrow a margin existed between victory and loss.
For example, one 14 year old boy played an instrumental classical guitar solo, another girl sang Jim Croce's "New York's Not My Home," and then there was the clogging duo. Now stop laughing. I know I just said clogging and I'm sure your image of such is about the same as mine. However these performers appeared wearing vivid sparkly red tops and pleather pants and the music was a pure rave remix of hip-hop and rock. The "clogging" including plain old fashioned tap-dancing and Britney Spears/Janet Jackson dance choreography. (And perhaps is was the heat, but for a minute or two I did flash onto that memory of the dance team from the movie "Donnie Darko", which creeped me out a little bit.)
In years past, there would often be several singers all singing the same momentary country music chart-topper or squads of clogging teams using the exact same bluegrass jam.
Not this year. Nope, not the year I get to be a judge. Powerful singers and musicians, making selections from Billy Joel to Martina McBride to Nelly. Boy, was I glad I didn't wear my overalls and I wore my shoes (that's a county fair joke - just relax).
Back in 1988 was the last time I judged something at the Jeff Co Fair. It was a 'Comedy Contest' and it was not pretty. It took place on a hilly spot on the fairgrounds. And the best joke I heard was about some farmer's confusion between a pig and his wife. Not pretty.
For some years now, the Youth Talent Show has had it's own covered pavilion and lights and bleachers for the crowd.
I'd show you a picture, but ... I can give you a link to the official web site for the fair, which goes thru Friday and you can enjoy this shot of a super-amped lawn tractor below.
And here is a video for the tractor pull competition.
But the real battle was among some truly talented teens.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Crazy Is More Than A Song
This will certainly blend the most pessimistic and the one at the other end -- what was it? Oh yeah. Optimism. A recent commenter here left the message that optimism and trust were the hallmarks of ignorance.
A variety of news reports today from around the world will certainly challenge the best and the worst, and I readily admit I'm starting to shy away from all the news, because seeing idiotic talking-heads providing fifteen minutes of some American Morning program to the question "Is our butts getting bigger or is bigger butts just better?" gives me the same headache that reports from the frontlines of a half-dozen battlefields do.
Meanwhile, I have read the all-out horror stories emerging in the hearings to determine if court-martials are to be held for a group of soldiers accused of raping and killing an Iraqi girl and her family. It is as grim a story as I've heard.
Today also brought in a report from NPR about "religious assassinations" in Iraq because the visibility of female sheep butts can bring death to a shepherd, or that the arrangements of vegetables in a market stand can also bring death. You can here that report here.
In Afghanistan, the long-standing cabinet-level office of Department of the Promotion of Virtue and the Discouragement of Vice (yes, that's the real office title) is maybe not as bad as it used to be. Maybe. That story is here. "No reason to be frightened," say officials, but I would recommend some fearfulness and perhaps moving to a more sane country.
I really need to stop being surprised that much of what appears in print and on TV is a variant of two topics, humanity's favorite pastimes, Death and Sex. (Or chess-playing under the Taliban regime.)
Wouldn't a sane person really really have to have the most troubling doubts about religious policing of Islam? Perhaps being immersed from birth onward in a spiral of madness makes sanity a fantasy only the truly deranged can imagine. Like the late, great Hunter S. Thompson said, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
It is frustrating as a bloggin' guy, as I was just about to post a video for this Monday, from a super-catchy tune that gets my vote for Best Song of the Summer. Even the music video for it is both original and layered and still matched the thematics of the lyrics with the faces of the band. And I love this band's name, too - Gnarls Barkley. I'm not the only one who thinks this tune is worthy of fame in 2006.
It has the appeal of an old Marvin Gaye or Bobby Womack tune, but it's an MTV hit too.
"Crazy" is the song. And I guess that for better or worse, Crazy is the theme of 2006.
A variety of news reports today from around the world will certainly challenge the best and the worst, and I readily admit I'm starting to shy away from all the news, because seeing idiotic talking-heads providing fifteen minutes of some American Morning program to the question "Is our butts getting bigger or is bigger butts just better?" gives me the same headache that reports from the frontlines of a half-dozen battlefields do.
Meanwhile, I have read the all-out horror stories emerging in the hearings to determine if court-martials are to be held for a group of soldiers accused of raping and killing an Iraqi girl and her family. It is as grim a story as I've heard.
Today also brought in a report from NPR about "religious assassinations" in Iraq because the visibility of female sheep butts can bring death to a shepherd, or that the arrangements of vegetables in a market stand can also bring death. You can here that report here.
In Afghanistan, the long-standing cabinet-level office of Department of the Promotion of Virtue and the Discouragement of Vice (yes, that's the real office title) is maybe not as bad as it used to be. Maybe. That story is here. "No reason to be frightened," say officials, but I would recommend some fearfulness and perhaps moving to a more sane country.
I really need to stop being surprised that much of what appears in print and on TV is a variant of two topics, humanity's favorite pastimes, Death and Sex. (Or chess-playing under the Taliban regime.)
Wouldn't a sane person really really have to have the most troubling doubts about religious policing of Islam? Perhaps being immersed from birth onward in a spiral of madness makes sanity a fantasy only the truly deranged can imagine. Like the late, great Hunter S. Thompson said, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
It is frustrating as a bloggin' guy, as I was just about to post a video for this Monday, from a super-catchy tune that gets my vote for Best Song of the Summer. Even the music video for it is both original and layered and still matched the thematics of the lyrics with the faces of the band. And I love this band's name, too - Gnarls Barkley. I'm not the only one who thinks this tune is worthy of fame in 2006.
It has the appeal of an old Marvin Gaye or Bobby Womack tune, but it's an MTV hit too.
"Crazy" is the song. And I guess that for better or worse, Crazy is the theme of 2006.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Sunday Sermonette
I think this particular patch of ruminations began because I was out this morning barefooted in the yard. Nothing quite like that feeling of green grass and the warming surface of this spinning planet between your toes. As I was walking the dog around the yard, always mindful of the doggie landmines of previous days, it is a mostly safe way to travel and my thoughts got lost on this Sunday morning about ... well, about a lot of things.
I start to thinking - always an act with the most curious effects - about how in my childhood, shoeless was the preferred mode of dress. And not just in the yard, but everywhere - through weed-thick trails between the houses, riding a bicycle, running across superhot sidewalks and asphalt. All tenderfooted adult now, I make careful steps, grateful that the walnuts already on the ground haven't crumbled into shrapnel.
I guess back in the day, my feet had the toughness of Tom Sawyer's ego. I do remember once hopping a ride on the back of a friend's bike, hauling off down some jungled dirt trail, and my right ankle dipped into the spokes of the rear wheel and chipped the skin away at my heel with some slightly bloody results. And yes, while it hurt, ultimately, I did not care.
In today's now a modern-go-go world, my parent could have, in response to the tattered ankle, started a national campaign for a federal effort to enforce the wearing of shoes for all children, a No Shoe Left Behind Act, which would be trumpeted as yet another way the Nanny Government is Making The World A Safer Place.
Once the walk was done I sat on the porch, sipping coffee, and the wheels continued to whirl in my head in that way they have - semi-philosophical world-gazing. I began to ponder on various news stories and blogging editorials I had read earlier in the day. "Sure seems to be a troubled old world today," I thought. "Warring and killing and bombing. All the hoopla over the recent elections, which no one really seems to care much about outside a small circle of politics groupies. Maybe I should do like a lot of folk today and go buy something since there is a tax holiday!"
A tax-free day is just a tiny decrease, really. Maybe we should consider a different kind of tax-holiday, one that occurs on the weekend after an election. And pricing decreases would be tacked to the percent of people who vote -- a 25% turnout means prices would fall one weekend by that amount, and maybe that would increase the turnout. Would enough people realize a 60 or 75 percent attendance at the polls could then mean a likewise discount?
As I sat and pondered on that fantasy, I was watching various insects scurry and fly about on their enigmatic tasks. The non-individualized actions all serve a hive or colony mind. Sadly, I see to much of that in humans too. There is literally no talk among the pundits and bloggers about the "best person to be elected." Today it is all My National Party, Right or Wrong.
Me feeble (and perhaps already heat and humidity filled) brain jumped to another thought. This relentless warfare in countries throughout the Middle East. Can there be any doubt that many wannabe tyrants are fueling raging fires with religious fervor? And that too many people in this world, and not just in the mideast, deeply feel their religious and spiritual values are so compelling that anyone whose views are different must be chased down and killed wherever they may seek refuge?
Praise Your Creator and Pass the Ammo. Yeesh.
And I am amazed at how our versatile language and rubber-limbed P.R. acrobats put the prettiest and most meaningless clothes on ancient behaviors. Today we have "sectarian violence," which used to be called "civil war" or just "anarchy." Another favorite is "collateral damage" instead of "dead civilians and bombed-out buildings." And the creepy presence of a world imagined by George Orwell seems omnipresent: "Security" means "I'm terrified of everything and don't feel safe," or that "Liberty" means "No amount of secrecy is too much."
I was talking to my 80-plus year old mom, who is Baptist down to the bone, and she confessed she had actually been making prayers of late for the Creator to infest the minds of warmakers and profiteers with endless nightmares of the horrors they are committing. She's obviously, like many, frustrated and disgusted by humanity's destruction at the will of so few.
I found myself offering her some optimisim, saying that perhaps there were still more Good People alive than Bad People, or else we would all be on the knife-edge of Death itself. But don't ask me any percentages.
A friend today emailed me this story - some kind folk have been seeking to assist this dolphin they saw off Sarasota, Florida, who had a Speedo wrapped around it's body which was slowly killing it. They did capture the critter and got the deadly garment removed. I'm fairly sure that in the long-distant past there was seldom a chance that Thag's or Ulu's thatch-woven thong would slip off only to kill the ocean-going life.
The story also noted that this dolphin had been "caught in a life-threatening extra large Speedo bathing suit".
Now I am not a member of the haute-couture, but I can tell you this - if yer Speedo size is "extra-large", do all of humanity and aquatic-kind a favor and don't wear it. It's time fer some Bermuda Shorts, bub.
Anyway, there on my porch, pondering imponderables, I did notice something that made me smile.
A car cruised slowly down the street in front of the house and a dog was sticking it's head out of the passenger window, a gaping grin and flying tounge giving expression to some doggie satisfaction. Now I personally hate that whole "is the glass half-full or half-empty" psycho-babble argument. The dog I was seeing offers a better way to frame the question.
Is that dog an example of Pure Optimisim and Complete Trust or of Blind Ignorance?
I start to thinking - always an act with the most curious effects - about how in my childhood, shoeless was the preferred mode of dress. And not just in the yard, but everywhere - through weed-thick trails between the houses, riding a bicycle, running across superhot sidewalks and asphalt. All tenderfooted adult now, I make careful steps, grateful that the walnuts already on the ground haven't crumbled into shrapnel.
I guess back in the day, my feet had the toughness of Tom Sawyer's ego. I do remember once hopping a ride on the back of a friend's bike, hauling off down some jungled dirt trail, and my right ankle dipped into the spokes of the rear wheel and chipped the skin away at my heel with some slightly bloody results. And yes, while it hurt, ultimately, I did not care.
In today's now a modern-go-go world, my parent could have, in response to the tattered ankle, started a national campaign for a federal effort to enforce the wearing of shoes for all children, a No Shoe Left Behind Act, which would be trumpeted as yet another way the Nanny Government is Making The World A Safer Place.
Once the walk was done I sat on the porch, sipping coffee, and the wheels continued to whirl in my head in that way they have - semi-philosophical world-gazing. I began to ponder on various news stories and blogging editorials I had read earlier in the day. "Sure seems to be a troubled old world today," I thought. "Warring and killing and bombing. All the hoopla over the recent elections, which no one really seems to care much about outside a small circle of politics groupies. Maybe I should do like a lot of folk today and go buy something since there is a tax holiday!"
A tax-free day is just a tiny decrease, really. Maybe we should consider a different kind of tax-holiday, one that occurs on the weekend after an election. And pricing decreases would be tacked to the percent of people who vote -- a 25% turnout means prices would fall one weekend by that amount, and maybe that would increase the turnout. Would enough people realize a 60 or 75 percent attendance at the polls could then mean a likewise discount?
As I sat and pondered on that fantasy, I was watching various insects scurry and fly about on their enigmatic tasks. The non-individualized actions all serve a hive or colony mind. Sadly, I see to much of that in humans too. There is literally no talk among the pundits and bloggers about the "best person to be elected." Today it is all My National Party, Right or Wrong.
Me feeble (and perhaps already heat and humidity filled) brain jumped to another thought. This relentless warfare in countries throughout the Middle East. Can there be any doubt that many wannabe tyrants are fueling raging fires with religious fervor? And that too many people in this world, and not just in the mideast, deeply feel their religious and spiritual values are so compelling that anyone whose views are different must be chased down and killed wherever they may seek refuge?
Praise Your Creator and Pass the Ammo. Yeesh.
And I am amazed at how our versatile language and rubber-limbed P.R. acrobats put the prettiest and most meaningless clothes on ancient behaviors. Today we have "sectarian violence," which used to be called "civil war" or just "anarchy." Another favorite is "collateral damage" instead of "dead civilians and bombed-out buildings." And the creepy presence of a world imagined by George Orwell seems omnipresent: "Security" means "I'm terrified of everything and don't feel safe," or that "Liberty" means "No amount of secrecy is too much."
I was talking to my 80-plus year old mom, who is Baptist down to the bone, and she confessed she had actually been making prayers of late for the Creator to infest the minds of warmakers and profiteers with endless nightmares of the horrors they are committing. She's obviously, like many, frustrated and disgusted by humanity's destruction at the will of so few.
I found myself offering her some optimisim, saying that perhaps there were still more Good People alive than Bad People, or else we would all be on the knife-edge of Death itself. But don't ask me any percentages.
A friend today emailed me this story - some kind folk have been seeking to assist this dolphin they saw off Sarasota, Florida, who had a Speedo wrapped around it's body which was slowly killing it. They did capture the critter and got the deadly garment removed. I'm fairly sure that in the long-distant past there was seldom a chance that Thag's or Ulu's thatch-woven thong would slip off only to kill the ocean-going life.
The story also noted that this dolphin had been "caught in a life-threatening extra large Speedo bathing suit".
Now I am not a member of the haute-couture, but I can tell you this - if yer Speedo size is "extra-large", do all of humanity and aquatic-kind a favor and don't wear it. It's time fer some Bermuda Shorts, bub.
Anyway, there on my porch, pondering imponderables, I did notice something that made me smile.
A car cruised slowly down the street in front of the house and a dog was sticking it's head out of the passenger window, a gaping grin and flying tounge giving expression to some doggie satisfaction. Now I personally hate that whole "is the glass half-full or half-empty" psycho-babble argument. The dog I was seeing offers a better way to frame the question.
Is that dog an example of Pure Optimisim and Complete Trust or of Blind Ignorance?
Friday, August 04, 2006
Camera Obscura - A Supervillain Arrives, Serenity Survives
I'm more than a little embarrassed to admit it. I know I have that reek of fanboy geek already when it comes to movies and TV based on comic books, then there's the devotion to the horror genre.
Despite the goofiness of the admission - here it is as simple as I can put it. I am really enjoying the super-silliness of the "Who Wants To Be A Superhero" show on the Sci-Fi Channel from Stan Lee's production company, Pow! Last week, I admitted the fun to be had in hearing Stan Lee say things like "Well done, Monkey Woman."
I tuned in Thursday for the second episode and blast it all if Monkey Woman didn't wow Stan and me with her refusal to allow to attack dogs to stop her from crossing some backyard and reaching the back door as part of the evening's competition. Wearing one of those protective suits dog trainers wear, the critters hauled her to the ground in seconds flat. But for the next ten minutes - yes, T-E-N, ten minutes - she clawed, crawled, inched and scooted her way to complete the goal. Most of the other wannabe superhero types either made it across in a minute's time or caved in to the dog attacks in mere seconds.
That li'l Monkey Woman fought so hard I got exhausted watching it.
Now that's not enough, however, to keep me as a viewer for the show. But at the very end, Stan the Man threw in a new element which excited my childish heart. The brutish "Iron Enforcer", whose B.O. was a topic of discussion among other contestants, and who had already said he wanted to be a superhero 'cause he wanted to kill, kill, kill finally got the boot off the show. But not really.
As the show ended, Stan appeared via a hidden TV screen and said, "Hey! How about you join me in a new plan! Let's make you a super-villain to challenge the other contestants!" Makeover experts zipped him into a waiting van and he emerges in a mean looking costume and is dubbed by Stan as "The Dark Enforcer!"
So yeah, I'll tune in for the next episode. And yeah, I am a total doofus.
(Oh and by the way - Heath Ledger is going to play The Joker?? Holy BrokeBatman!)
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Two movies opening today are getting rave reviews, especially the thriller "The Descent," the newest film from the maker of the cult favorite "Dog Soldiers." That movie was a nifty revision of the werewolf myth as a squad of commandos encounter the hairy monsters in the Scottish Highlands. And overall, it was quite scary and a much better than expected movie. Both "Descent", or Tough Chicks In A Cave, and Will Ferrell's "Talladega Nights" are getting high marks all around.
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Since I've already invoked that Fanboy Presence, the true believers of the universe created by Joss Whedon in the TV series "Firefly" and the excellent movie follow-up "Serenity" should be eager to view a documentary on just how powerful the fan-force was in getting that movie made.
"Done The Impossible" is that documentary and is now out on DVD and snippets are available online.
Maybe sooner than later, the Suits will greenlight a sequel to "Serenity."
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If John Williams can provide the theme music for NBC's Nightly News, then I suppose CBS had no choice but to seek the composer James Horner to craft a new tune for the arrival of Katie Couric for her evening newscast. Oh, the drama! The starpower! And maybe even some time for news reporting too!
The link to the story above also reveals that US soldiers in Iraq are making use of YouTube to share the daily events in Iraq. Definitely worth a look.
UPDATE: I just noticed that a movie called "Kibakichi" is on ShowtimeExtreme tonight. The IMDB page for the movie says things like "werewolf samurai in a village of monsters who feed on human flesh". Wow. That sounds really, really awful so I read a little more about it. One reviewer on the IMDB says: "What is important is the dubbed version. Its simply beautiful. Lip sinked by a blind man, scripted by an inbred and performed, by the sound of it, by a motley band of monkeys, castratoes and men who have had all trace of emotion removed from them."
Morristown Councilman Wins 1st District Primary
Morristown City Councilman Rick Trent won the Democrat Primary in the 1st District with a total of 40% of the votes, so congratulations are in order. It did take a bit of searching through several web sites to locate and verify the win. On the GOP side, it was a very close race among a host of candidates, with totals now showing David Davis with 16,570 and Richard Venable with 16,049.
As I've said before, it will be an all uphill battle to win over the Congressional seat from the Republican party, which has held the seat since somewhere near the time of Noah.
Computer woes delayed voting results in this county until around 1 a.m. and apparently there were computer woes statewide as well. Was it adjusting to a new system and a very very long ballot?
Several Hamblen County races were very close too, adding to the overall nervousness - Commissioner Bobby Reinhardt (D) was unseated by challenger Reece Sexton by two votes, 158 to 160, incumbent Edwin Osborne (D) lost to Paul LeBel (R) 224 to 242. LeBel is also business partner to the Morristown city Mayor, Gary Johnson.
The contentious battle in the GOP Primary for US Senate was decided by East TN voters, with Chattanoogan Bob Corker taking the win.
As soon as I can verify the voter turnout totals for the county, I'll add that info here.
UPDATE: Trent's official website is here, with views offered on a variety of issues.
UPDATE II: Hamblen election officials estimate turnout for Thursday's primary was about 30-32 percent of registered voters. And a fine example of each vote being important - one commission seat was decided by only two votes!
As I've said before, it will be an all uphill battle to win over the Congressional seat from the Republican party, which has held the seat since somewhere near the time of Noah.
Computer woes delayed voting results in this county until around 1 a.m. and apparently there were computer woes statewide as well. Was it adjusting to a new system and a very very long ballot?
Several Hamblen County races were very close too, adding to the overall nervousness - Commissioner Bobby Reinhardt (D) was unseated by challenger Reece Sexton by two votes, 158 to 160, incumbent Edwin Osborne (D) lost to Paul LeBel (R) 224 to 242. LeBel is also business partner to the Morristown city Mayor, Gary Johnson.
The contentious battle in the GOP Primary for US Senate was decided by East TN voters, with Chattanoogan Bob Corker taking the win.
As soon as I can verify the voter turnout totals for the county, I'll add that info here.
UPDATE: Trent's official website is here, with views offered on a variety of issues.
UPDATE II: Hamblen election officials estimate turnout for Thursday's primary was about 30-32 percent of registered voters. And a fine example of each vote being important - one commission seat was decided by only two votes!
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Thursday Linkfest
Enterprising writer Rex L Camino has devised a sort of literary equivalent of "sampling". He has devised a way to take entries from Wikipedia articles on "oddly named animals and assorted insects" and rewritten them as entries on "semi-obscure" television personalities.
An example provided is for Joyce Dewitt from "Three's Company" inserted in the description for the Wandering Albatross. Here's a taste of Rex-revisionism:
"She feeds on squid, small fish and on animal refuse that floats on the sea, eating to such excess at times that she is unable to fly and rests helplessly on the water.
She lays one egg: it is white, with a few spots, and is about 4 inches long. At breeding time she occupies loose colonies on isolated island groups in the Southern Ocean, such as Crozet Islands, South Georgia, Marion Island, Prince Edward Island, Kerguelen and Macquarie Island."
If you want, you can WikiRead the albatross entry here. And remember -- Vote Rex as Write-In Candidate for Senator!!!!
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Like many TV viewers, the advertisement screaming at you "Head On!!! Apply Directly to you forehead!!" is nearly inescapable and may well incur migraines. On the post and comments here from KnoxViews, I learned the chief ingredient of this never-explained item is ... wax.
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Thanks to Tits McGee, who showed me the way, a site called Mad Vortex takes pics and old advertisements and provides captions that are deeply, satisfyingly entertaining. In one picture of some darling child standing by a large kitchen sink, the caption reads: "As Ginny Rae dumped the arsenic into the village water supply, she suppressed a tiny giggle." Ah, that Ginny!!
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Isn't it time YOU were in command and made the Pipe Cleaner Man dance to your tune?
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Have you ever seen that ever-changing signboard in Times Square, first installed in 1989, which shows the dollar amount of the national debt? It will run out of digits in 2007. This and other fun facts here.
An example provided is for Joyce Dewitt from "Three's Company" inserted in the description for the Wandering Albatross. Here's a taste of Rex-revisionism:
"She feeds on squid, small fish and on animal refuse that floats on the sea, eating to such excess at times that she is unable to fly and rests helplessly on the water.
She lays one egg: it is white, with a few spots, and is about 4 inches long. At breeding time she occupies loose colonies on isolated island groups in the Southern Ocean, such as Crozet Islands, South Georgia, Marion Island, Prince Edward Island, Kerguelen and Macquarie Island."
If you want, you can WikiRead the albatross entry here. And remember -- Vote Rex as Write-In Candidate for Senator!!!!
-------
Like many TV viewers, the advertisement screaming at you "Head On!!! Apply Directly to you forehead!!" is nearly inescapable and may well incur migraines. On the post and comments here from KnoxViews, I learned the chief ingredient of this never-explained item is ... wax.
-------
Thanks to Tits McGee, who showed me the way, a site called Mad Vortex takes pics and old advertisements and provides captions that are deeply, satisfyingly entertaining. In one picture of some darling child standing by a large kitchen sink, the caption reads: "As Ginny Rae dumped the arsenic into the village water supply, she suppressed a tiny giggle." Ah, that Ginny!!
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Isn't it time YOU were in command and made the Pipe Cleaner Man dance to your tune?
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Have you ever seen that ever-changing signboard in Times Square, first installed in 1989, which shows the dollar amount of the national debt? It will run out of digits in 2007. This and other fun facts here.
Morristown Sweetens Deal To Keep Administrator
To update the story from earlier this week, Morristown's City Administrator Jim Crumley will stay in Morristown rather than continue the interview process for Kingsport's City Manager. More money from the Morristown Council made the difference, according to a report in the Kingsport Times News.
"In the Wednesday letter, Crumley wrote that he will get a raise for staying in Morristown and that he wanted to help bring stability and improvements to Morristown, which before he came in 2001 had four city administrators in five years. It is about 60 miles southwest of Kingsport.
Kingsport officials say they'll have to go back to square one now in their search.
The Kinsport newspaper also reports that as all 24 county commissioners are up for election today, not all seem to be in the loop regarding a salary study the commission contracted - although the newspaper was able to obtain a copy.
Commissioner Wayne McConnell and others had to get their copies from the newspaper:
"McConnell said he was told the consultant who conducted the study, and who gave a presentation to the Budget Committee in a called meeting Tuesday, did not leave a copy on file anywhere in the courthouse.
"In the Wednesday letter, Crumley wrote that he will get a raise for staying in Morristown and that he wanted to help bring stability and improvements to Morristown, which before he came in 2001 had four city administrators in five years. It is about 60 miles southwest of Kingsport.
"One of the lessons I learned in Johnson City was that continuity of leadership is critical to achieving long-term goals," Crumley wrote.
"Having the opportunity to create ideas, implement the ideas and then make adjustments to correct any flaws is one of the keys to progress as a community. In order for real effort and real results to be recognized, the opportunity to stay in one city and attempt to reach higher is extremely appealing."
Crumley was to have undergone a public interview session with the BMA on Aug. 7. Phillips had planned to bring Crumley's nomination for city manager to a BMA vote Aug. 15.
"The Morristown City Council has been active in attempting to retain my services here as city administrator," Crumley wrote. "Yesterday evening (Tuesday), the mayor indicated that City Council had discussed and verbally approved a very generous restructuring of my employment contract. They have instructed the city attorney to meet with me and complete details in this agreement."
Kingsport officials say they'll have to go back to square one now in their search.
The Kinsport newspaper also reports that as all 24 county commissioners are up for election today, not all seem to be in the loop regarding a salary study the commission contracted - although the newspaper was able to obtain a copy.
Commissioner Wayne McConnell and others had to get their copies from the newspaper:
"McConnell said he was told the consultant who conducted the study, and who gave a presentation to the Budget Committee in a called meeting Tuesday, did not leave a copy on file anywhere in the courthouse.
Commissioners asked if they could borrow the copy given to the Times-News on Tuesday.
McConnell and others said the limited release of the information and its discussion by the Budget Committee has cut department heads and other elected officials out of the process.
"It's been handled very, extremely wrong," said Commissioner Mark Vance.
Vance said he'd seen a copy of what was given out at the Budget Committee, and "there's a lot of problems with it."
McConnell linked what happened with the salary study results to a broader problem within county government.
"You've got about three or four commissioners who know what's going on - and everybody else is in the dark," McConnell said. "This is a 24-member (commission). It's not an eight-member (commission) for just the Budget Committee. And my personal opinion is ... this is one thing that should have been presented to all the commissioners. If they were at Budget Committee last night, they should have been here tonight to explain this to us and to pass out something for us to look at."
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